FOR A DIALOGUE OF GOODWILL Eduardo Faleiro
People of South Asia constitute more than one fifth of mankind, are heirs to great civilizations and yet face momentous problems of poverty, illiteracy and deprivation. Though the governments of SAARC nations have made efforts since independence to improve the condition of their people, these attempts are often thwarted by multifarious religious, ethnic and linguistic problems. Discontentment and frustration among the masses faced with such tribulations emboldens subversive forces both within and outside to exploit national inadequacies. The solution to our common predicament requires peace and an atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation rather than of conflict and confrontation. Peace is essential for national as well as regional prosperity. How do we achieve prosperity in South Asia? Regional economic cooperation is a pivotal element. Economic synergy leads more often than not to the solution of disputes including political differences. The fears of any of the SAARC countries that economic cooperation might destroy their own domestic economy are unfounded and, in any case, adverse effects can always be prevented by using such devices as the negative list, the quota system or the tariff mechanism. 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 the 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. Whilst the SAARC Charter disallows bilateral and contentious issues, at the Bangalore summit of 1986 there were detailed discussions between the leaders of India and Sri Lanka on the vexed ethnic problem of that country. This tradition had been maintained and has now become an intrinsic part of the SAARC summits, where time is provided for bilateral meetings and discussions on an informal basis. Such meetings remain unstructured and are not part of the summit agenda, but have proved very useful on many occasions. 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 globalisation. The process of economic globalisation 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 nations successfully coordinated their strategies at the Seattle and Doha Rounds of negotiations. They should again present a unified approach at the round to be held in Cancun next week on such crucial issues as the Agreement on Agriculture, agriculture subsidies, market access, TRIPS etc. Intra-regional trade among SAARC countries as a percentage of their world trade is negligible at 3.4 per cent. Intra-regional trade as percentage of world trade is 38.4 per cent in East Asia, 37.3 per cent in North America and 63.4 per cent in the European Union. The South Asia preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) came into effect in 1995 and there has been some modest progress 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 the obligations under WTO. Three rounds of meetings were held on SAFTA in October, November and December 2002. These meetings discussed the draft treaty prepared by the SAARC Secretariat but so far the Framework Agreement has not been finalized. One hopes that the present Indo-Pakistan 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. The countries of South Asia have an enormous potential which regrettably has remained unfulfilled. To realize their full capability, our peoples ought to shun extremist agendas whether religious, ethnic or otherwise. National reconciliation within each country and cooperation among the countries of SAARC are the need of the hour. We must also strive towards sustainable consensus. Government decisions ought to be taken by involving all concerned, including Opposition parties, but decisions once taken must hold notwithstanding changes in government or other political vicissitudes. Governments apart, the civil society, the business community, the NGOs must all emphatically promote awareness about the need and advantage of regional cooperation. There ought to be a much greater interaction between the civil society and the political class across the different countries of South Asia. Regrettably such an interaction is minimal. It would contribute significantly towards a quicker settlement of differences and a greater South Asian solidarity which is essential for the progress and prosperity of all our peoples. The South Asia Forum inaugurated yesterday (September 5) by Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha at Parliament House is an all-party organization. It will create awareness about the critical need for peace and cooperation. We do believe that such an interaction will lead to a quicker settlement of differences and to a greater South Asian solidarity, the key to progress and prosperity of all our peoples. We do hope to have our Forum's chapters in all the seven countries and open a dialogue with the intelligentsia and like-minded organizations. This would truly be a dialogue of goodwill. (The writer is a former Union Minister. He is also the Chairman of the South Asia Forum). ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
