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Safta should herald economic union Says King Gyanendra

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Nepalese King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev said Safta should serve as a forerunner of a more ambitious and deeper economic integration to eventually realise the goal of a South Asian Economic Union.
The success of Safta will depend on judicious sharing of benefits by all partners, he said in the inauguration of the 13th Saarc Summit.
The Safta regime needs to be made responsive to the development needs of the poorer countries amongst the South Asia, the King observed. Poverty remains the most daunting challenge to our collective wisdom, Gyanendra said, adding, “As trade has direct consequences for poverty reduction efforts, we must take adequate measures to ensure that poverty reduction becomes the outcome of a free trade regime.”
The contemporary trends in international geo-economics dictate that the time has come for South Asian countries to take bold initiatives and concrete measures to realise Saarc goals and objectives to satisfy the ever-escalating expectations of the peoples in the region, he added.
“We have to move swiftly to recover the lost opportunities and maximise gains by forging regional synergy,” the King said, adding that South Asia must send a clear message that violence can't be an instrument for further political objectives.
“We visualise it [Saarc] as an embodiment of South Asian identity. In order to promote people-to-people contacts on a larger scale, we must think of a visa-free regime in South Asia along with a free trade regime.”
It has become imperative that Saarc countries introduce and carry out parallel processes of economic integration and infrastructure development that will obviously require huge investments, he noted.
“We need to revitalise the South Asian Development Fund (SADF) with required resources and appropriate technological and institutional design,” the King observed.
Regional cooperation today is not merely a simple political aspiration, rather an economic necessity accentuated by the forces of globalisation, he said.
Saarc region possesses great potential to be a vibrant force in the international arena and what is urgently required is unity of purpose and cooperative resolve to gain collective benefit from its own strengths, he said.
"Many countries and peoples around the world have learnt from our rich history and enduring experiences. Unfortunately, we remain deprived of the benefit of our own rich heritage.”
It is a stark reality that the region has been mired in terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking and environmental catastrophies as well as unbridled spread of pestilent diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, Gyanendra said.
He said the Saarc Social Charter must be integrated into the overall Saarc activities to promote an inclusive social development for all -- men, women and children.
“We believe that the signing of the four agreements on Promotion and Protection of Investments, Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters, Saarc International Commercial Arbitration Centre and Avoidance of Double Taxation will further strengthen the Safta regime with a positive bearing on the growth of intra-regional trade and investment.”
"Our offer that Nepal serves as a transit point between India and China, the two largest emerging markets in the world, has been born out of our deep conviction that, in an era characterised by heightened competition to capture world markets and capital, increased trade and economic interaction between the two up-and-coming economic zones, facilitated by transportation and communication links, would provide a level playing field for both our neighbours to reap benefits of a promising global economic order," he added.