South Asian Economic Integration needs political spirit

ISLAMABAD: The political leaders of South Asia need to take bold initiatives and exhibit great political will if they want meaningful economic integration of SAARC and foster the regional cooperation mechanism.

This was stated by Sartaj Aziz, Former Finance and Foreign Minister of Pakistan at the session" Generating political will for economic integration of South Asia" of the 4th SAARC Business leaders Conclave (SBLC) held in Kathmandu, Nepal, says a message received here from Kathmandu on Thursday.

Tariq Sayeed, immediate Past president of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SAARC CCI) chaired the session which was also addressed by Sarat Singh Bhandari, Minister of Defence, Government of Nepal and former Commerce Minister and Minister for Tourism and Dr. Hasan Mahmud, MP, Minister of Environment and Forest Bangladesh while Macky Hashim, former President SAARC CCI from Sri Lanka and Suraj Vaidya, President FNCCI spoke as the panellists.

While concluding the session, Sayeed said that the Private Sector of the South Asia was already involved in promoting economic cooperation in the region and demands of the Governments to provide business enabling environment to foster the pace of economic cooperation.

He termed non-resolution of political issues as the biggest hurdle in the way of integration process.

The Session on Water, Energy, Climate Change, moderated by Secretary General Iqbal Tabish was addressed by Dr. Hasan Mahmud, MP, Minister of Environment and Forest, Bangladesh, who urged upon the need for evolving Regional Mechanism to overcome the challenges posed by climate change.

Sartaj Aziz in his presentation on Food Security said that food security can not be ensured until unless the poverty is not addressed adequately, which required access of food for every individual as a fundamental right.

Gyanendra Lal Pradhan, Chairman-Water, Energy and Environmental Council, FNCCI & SAARC CCI,Raghuveer Y. Sharma, Principal Investment Officer, IFC, World Bang Group, and Balananda Poudel, Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Nepal addressed the session.

The speakers of the Business leaders Session including S.M. Muneer, President Indo-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mohamad Daood Moosa, Senior Advisor of Afghanistan, Rajendra Khetan, Industrialist and Member of Constituent Assembly of Nepal, Mahesh K. Saharia, CEO, Saharia Group of Companies, India and Madhukar SJB Rana, Former Finance Minister of Nepal and Professor, South Asian Institute of Management, Kathmandu on Trade Issues, Nepal noted that countries of the region had lowest commercial bonds than in other regions.

They were of the opinion that South Asia has poor connectivity in every sector.

"We have poor transport network to support trade and commerce when compared to other regions", said SM Muneer.

"Without honest involvement of all countries intraregional connectivity could not be build," he said. He urged South Asian governments to address their political differences to build better trade and investment relationship.

India is a major trade partner of South Asian countries, so India should lead toward it, he said.

Meanwhile, SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneur Council (SCWEC) also held a working session under the theme `Women Leadership for Regional Business Opportunities' at the fourth SAARC Business Leaders Conclave here Friday.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011