Regional Trade, Tourism, Power Cooperation
Exploit Saarc potential
Policy Research Centre conference told
The Saarc potential must be exploited to thrive on sectors including regional trade, tourism and power cooperation in South Asia, if not on politics, said ministers and envoys at a conference yesterday.
Saarc is an indispensable tool for South Asian regional connectivity, security and economic development, said Dr Dinesh Bhattarai, Nepal's former permanent representative to the United Nations.
The region remains centered on India while indifference and lack of trust have overshadowed Saarc's potentials, he said.
Policy Research Centre (PRC), a civil society think tank, organised the two-day conference on regional integration and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) at a hotel in the capital.
The region must cash in on its potentials of physical connectivity and hydro-power cooperation while it could easily be a global attraction with the world's highest mountain and longest sea beach, said Hari Kumar Shrestha, Nepal ambassador to Bangladesh.
Bhutan will eagerly support the initiative for regional connectivity and hydro-power cooperation, said Kinzang Dorjic, head of chancery of Bhutanese embassy.
Sarath K Weragoda, Sri Lankan high commissioner to Bangladesh, too echoed the view for regional tourism development under a Saarc arrangement.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said government to government, business to business and people to people contacts were vital for Saarc.
Though it was expected to play a catalytic role for political, social and economic development, Saarc was not able to deliver as per people's high expectations, she said.
Dr Sarath Amunugama, senior minister for international monetary cooperation of Sri Lanka, termed Saarc too bureaucratic and said the eight-member grouping, unlike European Union and Asean, was all about talks and less about actions.
Saarc, initially a seven-member regional forum, was founded in 1985 at Bangladesh's initiative with members -- Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined later.
It currently has nine observers -- Australia, China, Iran, Japan, Myanmar, Mauritius, South Korea, USA and EU.
Myanmar Ambassador Myo Myint Than; Micky Wickremasinghe, chairman of Ceylon Biscuits Ltd; and Prof Mahbub Husain Khan, special advisor to PRC; spoke among others. PRC Chairman Prof Akbaruddin Ahmed chaired the conference's first session.
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