Mizzima: Asian Centre for Democrati

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Asian Center for Democratic Governance to be set up in New Delhi

New Delhi, March 24, 2000
Mizzima News Group

One of the announcements made by US President Bill Clinton during his
visit in New Delhi is to set up an Asian center for democracy jointly by
the two countries. The center, to be based in New Delhi, is named Asian
Center for Democratic Governance and jointly set up by the Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII) and Washington-based National Endowment for
Democracy (NED).

"I'm pleased that our National Endowment for Democracy, the
Confederation of Indian Industry, and the Bureau of Parliamentary
Studies here will organize the Asian Center for Democratic Governance,
based here in New Delhi, to share our common experience with the hope of
advancing freedom across Asia," said Mr. Clinton in New Delhi.

According to CII in New Delhi, the work on setting up the center is
already started and the center will aim at benefiting new and developing
democracies of the region through the shared experiences of the two
largest democracies in the world.

As India and the United States are seen as successful democracies, it
was felt that they should get together in showing other countries how
democracies can be effectively nurtured, said Mr. Gautam Adhikari who is
senior fellow with the NED. He and NED president Carl Gershman were in
India in connection with President Clinton's visit.

The center will hold conferences, meetings, and workshops, training
courses and networking in the countries in Asia to promote democracy in
the region. It will become a forum for Asian countries to share ideas
and exchange information about their specific experiences in order to
build a shared understanding of transparent and accountable democratic
governance.