South Asian nations agreed today to a plan to fight poverty.
But the "action plan" agreed by seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), long hamstrung by tension between India and Pakistan, contained no guarantees it would be put into action.
It urges good governance practices, following sound economic policies, developing human resources, expanding social safety nets, investing in social sectors and expanding intra-regional trade.
The seven members - the others are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives - would also ask developed countries to stem the flow of money stolen by corrupt officials, it said.
"Around 500 million people live below poverty line in this region," Pakistan Finance Minister Mr Saukat Aziz told a news conference at the end of a meeting of SAARC finance and planning ministers.
Half of South Asia's 1.3 billion people are illiterate, and 10 million suffer from "avoidable disabilities" because of poor health care, he said.
But India and Pakistan, in a tense military stand-off with more than one million troops massed on their borders, did not hold bilateral talks.
Pakistan, with a population of 140 million and an annual per capita income of $412, allocated 132 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) for defence in its budget for fiscal 2001-02 (July/June). India increased defence expenditure for fiscal 2002/03 to 650 billion rupees ($11 billion).