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'Poverty, trade, investment should be SAARC priority areas'

By Staff Correspondent
Poverty, trade, investment, finance and industry are the prospective areas the sevenyear-old South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) should concentrate on in this decade.
Dhaka-based top SAARC diplomats, the country's prominent academics, researchers, scholars and policy planners yesterday made this observation at a round-table discussion styled "Priorities for SAARC in the nineties".
Participants spoke on three themes — preferential trade arrangements, formation of a development fund and poverty alleviation — at the discussion designed "to hold informal and
frank exchanges of ideas on ways to evaluate the progress achieved by the association so far and on the imperatives, challenges and priorities" during the decade in the changed global perspective.
Foreign Secretary Reaz Rahman made the opening statements while Prof Rehman Sobhan acted as moderator at the four-hour meeting, cohosted by the Bangladesh Institute for International Strategic Studies (BUSS) and the International Studies Association of Bangladesh (ISAB).
They said that the proposed South Aslan Preferential Trade Arrangements (SAPTA), the
South Asia Development Fund (SADF) and the programme on poverty alleviation, if adopted by top political leaders at their forthcoming meeting, would be significant step for Improving the regional atmosphere marred by "mistrust” and ten-sion.
A scrutiny of the past programmes and performances and a foresight for the future would be the prime tasks of the summitcers, said Reaz Rahman giving a resume of the regional alliances achievements and prospects.
Prof Shamsul Huq, one of the panelists, spoke on the political overtones of a tangible
cooperation in the region.
. . Unless the anti-Indian lobby in the region or the anti-Indian-neighbour lobby within India can be contained through political measures . . . I’m afraid that SAARC will achieve nothing substantial," Prof Huq. Foreign Minister during the association's formative years, said speaking on the "most important impediment to any cooperation" in the region.
A K H Murshcd. a former Foreign Secretary and Chairman of the BUSS, suggested something like GSP or GSTP arrangements for less advanced countries like Bangladesh. Nepal. Bhutan and the Maldives.
Dr Shaikh Maqsud All, former Member of the Planning Commission, pleaded for the 'recognition of the rights of the poor'.
Tn Bangladesh, the poor provide 50 per cent of the GDP. . . We're not giving them even 20 per cent ( of total resource allocation)," AH, a member of the 15-membcr South Asian Independent Commission on Poverty Alleviation, said.
"Are we prepared to reduce defence expenditure?" Fakruddln Ahmed .a former Foreign Secretary posed a question, to divert funds for poverty reduction.
High Commissioner K Raghunath of India remarked that political obstacles should not be overemphasised to forge effective cooperation.
High Commissioner Anwar Kemal of Pakistan suggested setting up of a peace research centre under the umbrella of SAARC to initiate long-term collaborative research and studies on ways to achieving peace, stability and mutual trust among member nations.
Invoking statements of President Ranasinghe Prema-dasa. High Commissioner Alfred K David of Shri Lanka somewhat vaguely advocated for the inclusion of bilateral and contentious issues in the summit deliberations. The vital question facing SAARC leaders in the nineties is whether they should not face and resolve bilateral Issues within the framework of
SAARC, David said.
Ambassador l.ok Bahadur Shrestha of ' Nepal and Ambassador Karma Darjec of Bhutan also spoke.
Shamsher AH. the Vice Chancellor of the Open University, taking part in the discussions from the floor, blasted the SAARC's mode of functioning saying, "SAARC is only in conferences, in meetings . .
AH was critical of the participants and -panelists' not giving emphasis on science and technology.
Summing up the deliberations. Prof Rehman Sobhan said that there was no reason to be pessimistic about Its (SAARC) achievements as the grouping was still at its formative stage.