SOUTH ASIA AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION It is a great pleasure to be here in the Kingdom of Nepal and in this historic city of Kathmandu. Its glorious artistic and architectural heritage places it among the most beautiful cities in the world. I am grateful to the B.P. Koirala Foundation and to the Nepal Council of World Affairs for having given me this opportunity to address and exchange views with such a distinguished gathering of intellectuals and foreign policy experts. B.P. Koirala was a towering personality much respected and admired not merely in Nepal but throughout South Asia. Today we do need such visionary leaders to take this region out of its present morass and on to the road of peace and prosperity.
We ought to ponder as to why the people of this region, one fifth of mankind, heirs to great civilizations are facing such momentous problems including those of poverty, illiteracy and disease. The solution to our predicament requires peace and an atmosphere of cooperation rather than of conflict and confrontation. The road to our success lies in solving differences through dialogue and consensus. Consensus is pivotal to the Agenda of Peace and peace and tolerance are the two pillars on which prosperity and indeed the very survival of nations is founded. Peace and tolerance, dialogue and consensus are also essential for regional progress and prosperity. How do we achieve prosperity in South Asia? Economic Cooperation is a very important element. The logic of economics leads more often than not to the solution of other disputes including political disagreements. It is often said that if SAARC is not progressing fast enough this is mainly due to the unresolved differences between India and Pakistan and it also sometimes argued that until and unless these differences are resolved South Asian Economic Cooperation will not succeed. To my mind these perceptions are not justified and here I derive support from no less an authority than Dr. Mahbub-Ul-Haq, former Finance Minister of Pakistan, founder of the Human Development Center at Islamabad and founder of the world renowned UNDP Human Development reports. I would like to place before you in some detail a note prepared by the Human Development Centre based on the speeches and statements of Dr. Mahbub-Ul-Haq under the caption "Some Myths about Pakistan-India Trade". Dr. Haq underscores the urgency of effective trade relations between the two countries and points out how political differences can be smoothened through economic cooperation. The agreements signed earlier this week by the Prime Ministers of India and China are the most recent example. From the information available to me at this stage it does appear that the Beijing meeting has been a historic occasion. It will advance substantially India-China trade relations but also have a positive fallout on economic cooperation in the entire region. The reasoning of Dr. Haq is valid for all countries. The fears of any of the SAARC countries that economic cooperation might destroy their own domestic economy are unfounded. In any case, any adverse effect can always be prevented by the use of devices such as the negative list, the quota system or the tariff mechanism. It is through regional arrangements that the countries of Europe as well as those of South East Asia obtained increased benefits and reduced and sometimes even eliminated the negative fallout of globalization. Effective South Asian cooperation brooks no delay. The process of economic globalization has so far gone mostly in favour of the developed countries and against the interests of the developing nations. Regional groupings are necessary to increase the bargaining power of countries in the WTO negotiations. The SAARC countries successfully coordinated their own strategies at Seattle and the Doha rounds of negotiations. They should again present an unified approach at the next round to be held at Cancun in September next and be well prepared on such crucial issues at the Agreement on Agriculture, agricultural subsidies, market access, TRIPS etc. Experience has shown that bilateral agreements between countries of South Asia are mutually beneficial. The Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement became operational in 2000 and has produced such good results within a short period of time that both Governments now want to further extend the scope of the Treaty. One of the commodities which India imports under this Treaty is tea. However a quota has been imposed on imports of Sri Lankan tea to protect our own vast tea production network. The Indo-Nepal Trade Treaty is also a good example of bilateral cooperation between two countries. India has now bilateral agreements with Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka and recently an agreement has been reached with Bangladesh to initiate negotiations. There are problems sometimes and stumbling blocks on the way to economic cooperation but they can and should be removed in the larger interests of all the countries involved. Intra-regional trade among the SAARC countries as a percentage of their world trade was negligible at 3.4% in 1990. During the same year, regional trade as percentage of world trade was 38.4% in East Asia, 37.3% in North America and 63.4% in the European Union. The South Asia Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) came into force in 1995 and there has been some modest progress in intra-regional trade but we must now move towards the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). SAFTA should come into force at the earliest and before we are overtaken by obligations under the WTO. Three rounds of meetings were held on SAFTA in October, November and December 2002. The meetings discussed the draft Treaty prepared by the SAARC Secretariat but so far the Framework Agreement has not been finalized. I do hope that the recent Indo-Pak peace initiative will achieve positive results and that it will create a favourable climate to operationalise SAFTA at the earliest and to achieve the ultimate objective of a South Asian Union on the lines of the European Union. In any case the wisdom of Dr. Mahbub-Ul-Haq as presented in the statement which I just read should dawn on all concerned. The countries of South Asia have an enormous potential which regrettably has remained unfulfilled. To realize their full capability our people ought to shun extremist agendas whether religious, ethnic or otherwise. National reconciliation within each country and cooperation among countries of SAARC are the need of the hour. We must also strive towards sustainable consensus. Government decisions must be taken by involving all concerned including the Opposition parties but once taken, decisions must hold notwithstanding changes of Governments or other political vicissitudes. Governments apart, the civil society, the intelligentsia, the business community, the NGOs must emphatically promote awareness about the need and advantages of regional cooperation. There ought to be much greater interaction between civil societies and the political class of the different countries of South Asia. This would contribute greatly to better understanding and a quicker settlement of differences. Unfortunately such an interaction is lacking. For instance the SAARC Conference of Speakers and Parliamentarians is expected to be held every year but it was last held in 1998. I would request the SAARC Secretariat which is located in Kathmandu and which is doing a splendid job to use its good offices so that the Conference is held during the current year. I am myself the convenor of Parliamentarians for South Asian Regional Cooperation (SARC) an informal group of Indian Parliamentarians committed to the cause of solidarity among the countries of South Asia. On my return to Delhi I shall brief my colleagues so that we are further motivated to take up these issues in our Parliament and Parliamentary Committees. Let us spare no efforts in this endeavor towards progress and prosperity of all our peoples. (Synopsis of speech of Shri Eduardo Faleiro, MP at the Nepal Council of World Affairs, Kathmandu on July 27, 2003) ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################