Poverty is a common issue in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region and that it should be dealt with collectively, Nepali Speaker Taranath Ranabhat said.

"Parliament, the primary organ of any state that represents the mandate of the people through their electoral choices, should be concentrate on the well-being of the people through its deliberations and activities," he was quoted by the state-run Radio Nepal as saying on Friday.

According to the radio, Ranabhat made this remark in a statement at the 4th Conference of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians being held in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

Referring to the problem of terrorism in the region, Ranabhat said all the countries in the SAARC region are suffering the pains of armed conflict and terrorism, stressing that priority should be given to this problem and it should be included in the agenda of deliberations at the conference as terrorist activities have regional and international dimensions.

Source: Xinhua