The 3rd meeting of the bureau of Asia Pacific ministers conference on housing and urban development (APMCHUD), chaired by India's Kumar Selja, union minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation and chairperson of the bureau of APMCHUD met at Teheran yesterday.

India is the chair of the bureau represented by seven countries - Iran, China, Jordan, Malaysia, Azerbaijan and Papua New Guineand India, representing various sub-regions of the Asia pacific.

The APMCHUD is a joint initiative of the countries of the Asia Pacific Region to mainstream the concerns of housing and urban development in respective countries for improving the quality of life of the citizens of the Asia pacific region and to ensure sustainable development at large.

H E Mohammed Saidi Kia, minister for housing and urban development, Islamic Republic of Iran, hosted the meeting that focused on the preparations for the forthcoming second conference of the APMCHUD scheduled to be held at Iran from 12 to 14 May.

Addressing the bureau Kumari Selja said that a strong foundation towards addressing the housing and sustainable urban development challenges has been laid with the constitution of APMCHUD and the setting up of the permanent executive secretariat for the bureau was another step towards consolidating and sustaining the initiative.

She further complemented the government of Iran for the meticulous planning and preparation for the forthcoming 2nd Conference which she felt would facilitate in evolving a focused and synergic approach for addressing the daunting challenges of the sector in the region.

H.E. Manoucher Kajeh Daloui, vice minister for housing and cities commended the efforts of government of India for the specific thrust given to the initiatives of APMCHUD. He further added that the forthcoming second conference of the APMCHUD would lay a firm foundation to carry forward the initiatives and objectives enshrined in the Delhi Declaration of APMCHUD. The Iranian delegation made a detailed presentation on the status of preparation for the 2nd conference of APMCHUD scheduled at Tehran.

The chief coordinator of the bureau and joint secretary (housing), government of India, Sunil Kumar Singh briefed the bureau on the initiatives made by the executive secretariat for establishing a mechanism for supporting the APMCHUD towards achieving its objectives. He informed that during the short period of just over a year, the Secretariat has been able to made major initial steps for institutionalising the set up. He assured complete support of the secretariat in the organisation of the 2nd Conference of the APMCHUD.

The representative from UN-Habitat, Markandey Rai assured complete support of UN-Habitat to APMCHUD and the government of Iran in organizing the conference at Tehran.