October 18: Yesterday was the international day for eradication of poverty. The day was marked to honour the commitments made by the governments, donors and non government organization to eradicate poverty.

In Bhutan, the day was commemorated at the Royal banquet hall in Thimphu. The theme this year is People Living in Poverty as Agents of Change.

The day began with the unfurling of chenrizig kuthang and lighting of butter lamps by the Prime Minister Lyonpo kinzang Dorji and the UNDP resident coordinator Mr, Nicholas Rossellini.

Addressing the function, the Prime Minister Lyonpo kinzang Dorji said the Royal government has accorded a high priority for poverty eradication. He said that the 10th five year plan is geared towards poverty eradication.

The UNDP resident coordinator Mr, Nicholas Rossellini said efforts should be made to eradicate poverty to attain the Millennium Development Goals.

He said that Bhutan is on track to achieve most of the MDGs. However he said it will be a challenge to achieve all the MDGs by 2015.

The participants led by the Prime minister joined millions of people all over the world to pledge to eradicate poverty. As part of the function, a public forum on culture industries was also held.

Later in the afternoon a workshop on promotion of culture based creative industry for poverty reduction and community vitalization began.

The two day workshop is aimed at exploring the possibilities of culture based initiatives in the future for poverty eradication.

Senior government officials, representatives from international organization and members from different agencies and organization attended the function.