Dates to Remember

Securing Peace and Prosperity

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is pleased to announce its Eighteenth Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) from 8 – 10 December 2015 in Islamabad, Pakistan.The overarching theme of the SDC is "Securing Peace and Prosperity". This SDC will be a prequel to the Nineteenth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit being hosted by Pakistan in early 2016.

Overarching Vision:

This SDC will be a thinkers’ agenda, a gathering of regional think tanks working closely with policy makers of their respective countries and representatives of existing and potential SAARC member countries; a congregation of visionaries in Islamabad.

Keeping SAARC’s collective conscience of “promoting peace, stability, amity and progress in the region …, particularly respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, national independence…” in mind, a mutual respect for each other’s solidarity  echoes through the efforts made over the years to achieve sustainable peace in the region. It is hoped that the forthcoming SAARC Summit 2016 will witness once more regional commitment to the cause that  “… economic, social and technical cooperation among the countries of South Asia would contribute significantly to national and collective self-reliance.”

The SAARC Summit would be focusing on various agendas such as the potential of new agreements based on recent political developments between silent neighbours, along with deliberating on giving member status to current observer state.

In view of the above, the Sustainable Development Conference would focus on understanding regional integration and the attempt of SAARC countries at various forums recently to establish new corridors to achieve sustainable development in the region and beyond. The Conference would also highlight the global political complementarities across borders, while pushing for a progressive approach of expanding the narrative from the bottlenecks of the peace and development process to wealth of possibilities that South Asia holds within itself and for the entire world.

Conference Sub-themes:

SDPI invites regional Think Tanks who are actively and intensively engaging policy makers in their respective countries to share their ideas, experiences and thoughts in the form of policy recommendations pertaining to education, peace and conflict, the SDGs, trade, economic growth, environment, energy, governance, women empowerment, minority rights, disaster management and preparedness and so on. These policy recommendations will be presented to esteemed panelists at the Conference comprising of policy makers, government officials, civil society members, academicians, private sector and researchers for open and interactive discussion, in spirit of the SAARC Summit 2016.

Conference Outcomes:

As done so in earlier SD Conferences, SDPI will compile the policy recommendations from the 20 panels that would be featured to be communicated to respective Ministries. The Institute envisions that the document formulated from the event may be used as a White Paper for the Nineteenth SAARC Summit 2016. 

The 2015 Conference will also showcase launch of the 2014 Conference Anthology titled ‘Pathways to Sustainable Development’, a peer reviewed publication, as well as SDPI’s first academic journal in English

Like all SDPI events, the SDC key note plenaries and sessions will be broadcast live on SDPI’s web-based TV (www.sdpi.tv) providing website and media interaction for wider dissemination.

At last year’s SDC, 194 panellists from 18 countries, including Pakistan, participated as speakers, special commentators, chairpersons and guests of honour. The Institute was honoured to host delegates from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, UK, and the USA. We are looking forward to doing so again this year.

Eighteenth SDC: Conference Format:

There will be two to three keynote plenary sessions in which prominent keynote speakers will be invited to address significant areas as highlighted in the overarching theme. The plenary each day will be followed by concurrent sessions / panels on sub-themes. The plenary will last for one hour and 30 minutes while the duration of each panel will be two hours with three to five presentations.

Dates to Remember:

Submission of abstracts: 17 August 2015 (Date extended till 1 September 2015) (Indian and Bangladeshi passport holders are encouraged to submit their abstracts by the first week of August so that they can be shortlisted and requested to send their visa clearance documents)

Submission of documents by Indian and Bangladeshi passport holders: 1 September 2015

Submission of Conference papers: 3 November 2015

Eighteenth Sustainable Development Conference: 8—10 December 2015  

Call for Abstracts:

Under the overarching theme, a number of panels based on sub-themes will be organized. Panel write-ups will be uploaded to the Conference website. Speakers are requested to submit their abstracts matching the panel sub-theme addressing the questions specifically asked. For details of the panels, authors’ guidelines, submission deadlines, etc., please visit our website www.sdpi.org. 

All abstracts will go through a software review for originality and if cleared will be reviewed by an editorial committee. Only those speakers with short-listed abstracts will be informed and will be requested to submit their papers by the deadline.Submit your abstract here http://bit.ly/1Hf3mWy 

List of Panels:

Over 20 panels will be organized at SDPI’s Eighteenth Sustainable Development Conference.  Potential speakers are requested to review and revisit the website www.sdpi.org/sdc.php for updated information which will be uploaded from time to time. 

For further details, please contact the SDC Unit:

Ms Uzma T. Haroon, 
Director SDC Unit
Email address: uzma@sdpi.org

Ms Imrana Niazi, 
Coordinator SDC
Email address: imrana@sdpi.org

Sustainable Development Conference Unit
Sustainable Development Policy Institute 
38 Main Embassy Road, G-6/3, Islamabad, Pakistan
Ph: (92-51) 2278134; 2278136  
Fax: (92-51) 2278135
URL: www.sdpi.org