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S Asian nations miss business opportunities worth $8b a year

Non-cooperation is the reason, says Saarc secretary general

Staff Correspondent
The South Asian nations miss business opportunities worth $8 billion a year because of noncooperation, said Saarc Secretary General Dr Sheel Kant Sharma yesterday.
"A recent study said the opportunity cost of non-cooperation [among the South Asian nations] is $8 billion," Sharma said at a roundtable styled "Saarc: Short Window of Opportunity" organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BED at its auditorium in the capital.
If "unofficial" businesses in the region could be checked, business opportunities worth three to four times the amount would have been created, he said.
He, however, expressed optimism that the Saarc processes, which appear to be moving like a locomotive, are steady and will surely witness success.
Terming the present situation in the Saarc region "unprecedented", he said, "On economic sides, these countries have good growth rates. Foreign exchange reserves arc also good?
He said, "Promising things are in our hand. These arc now at the stage ofimplementation."
Sharma, who became the Saarc secretary general on March 1 this year, described the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta) and Saarc Development Fund as the successes of tnc forum of the eight countries in the region.
A few more projects of the devcl-opment fund will be Initiated before the next summit in Colombo, he added.
In his keynote address, Sharma said the priorities in the last summit were energy, water, food and climate change and work on these areas progressed on their own ways. "Colombo summit will be a time for our leaders to pronounce these issues," he said.
A Saarc Food Bank has already been established for food security of South Asian nations and four countries have already ratified it, one will ratify it soon and the rest arc also expected to follow, he said, adding, "When ratification by all the countries is done, it will start functioning."
In terms of population, the Saarc is the biggest regional grouping and all the governments are heavily engaged in addressing problems oi their nationalities, he said, adding that although these efforts are regional, they are implemented on national basis.
Sharma observed that the Saarc Secretariat requires more skilled and expert manpower to strengthen it.
Referring to the European Union (EU) and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), he said today all refer to these regional groupings, but these also took time to fly.
Responding to a question, he said there is already visa exemption for people in a few categories for travelling the Saarc countries and the Saarc Secretariat is trying to increase the number of categories.
In his welcome address, BEI President Farooq Sobhan said the Saarc should give top priority on the issue of climate change as experts fear millions of people will lose shelters and adequate food production remains a challenge.
Emphasising the need for activating Safta, the former foreign secretary said the free trade agreement now in place between India and Sri Lanka could also be replicated in case of other Saarc countries.
Saarc food security reserve is a crucial issue in the wake of food shortage and price hike, Sobhan said, adding that the Saarc could learn from the experiences of the EU and the ASEAN. He also suggested strengthening the Saarc Secretariat to make more initia-
He called for more cooperation on labour migration ana energy cooperation among the Saarc nations, saying these are the issues that can truly help develop the region and face challenges ahead.
European Commission Head of Delegation Stefan Frowein, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, diplo mats from home and abroad and development experts were present at the roundtable.