Remarks by Dr Posh Raj Pandey
Mr. Chairman,
Rt. Honb’le Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal,
Hon’ble Deputy Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka, Mr. Neomal Perera,
Dr. Gowher Rizvi, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh,
His Excellency Dr. Sheel Kant Sharma, SAARC Secretary General,
Mr. Robert Piper, UN Resident Representative and Humanatarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of South Asia Watch on Trade Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) and our co-organizer South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), it is my pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to you all in the 3rd South Asia Economic Summit.
South Asia Economic Summit is a non-governmental initiative to bring together a cross-section of South Asian stakeholders from the government, private sector, and civil society in the region to review and reflect on economic cooperation and also offer a forum for sharing knowledge, ideas and experiences to strengthen the economic integration process in South Asia. Built on the 1st Summit organized in Colombo on 28-30 August 2008 by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) amidst the global food crisis and the 2nd Summit organized in New Delhi on 11-12 December 2009 by the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) with the theme of global financial meltdown, this 3rd South Asia Economic Summit is a continuation of the previous regional efforts with regional economic integration, climate change and food security as its theme.
Distinguished Delegates,
SAARC, completing 25 years of its existence, has come a long way in the process of emerging as a true regional economic and development block, despite some sporadic ‘credibility gap’. In order to justify SAARC as a regional economic group, our actions need to be directed towards integration of negative externalities and exploitation of efficiency gains. The signing of various agreements and declarations, and implementation of regional cooperation projects, such as SAFTA Treaty, SAFTA Services Agreement, SAARC Declaration on Climate Change, South Asian University, SAARC Development Fund and the SAARC Food Bank, among others, are evidences of our actions in the right direction and SAARC’s emergence as a dynamic economic group. However, the signing of a treaty does not establish integration, but only signifies a promise by the leaders of several States to engage in a particular course of action. True integration is achieved through the implementation of this promise, which entails a lengthy process of establishing common rules, regulations and policies. We are hopeful that the discourse in this Summit will contribute to framing the rules, regulations, and policies that will translate the aspiration for regional prosperity into reality.
While the issues of rules, regulation and policy coordination within the borders among the SAARC countries, lack of adequate connectivity and transportation facilities along with distributional problems are as salient as before, new challenges due to energy, food and financial crisis have been emerging in the region. Such challenges are further aggravated by climate change, which have compounded the acute vulnerabilities facing the South Asian countries in all sectors of their economies. However, the changing global economic landscape with the emergence of Asia as an economic powerhouse and an increasing role of south-south cooperation would create new opportunities for South Asian regional cooperation and development projects.
Against this background, the purpose of the 3rd South Asia Economic Summit is to facilitate a dialogue between relevant stakeholders for identifying and prioritizing pertinent trade, development and climate change issues for regional cooperation in South Asia. In the next two days, we will be having deliberations, dialogue, debate and discussions particularly on the implementation of SAARC commitments on trade, socio-economic and climate change issues. We would also be contemplating on other emerging issues that will help in broadening and deepening regional cooperation in South Asia, and the special needs of the LDCs that require special mechanism for their meaningful integration into the regional economy.
Distinguished participants,
We understand we cannot have ‘life in a day’ but we are confident that we can underscore the needs for regional efforts to fight against our common evils (evils of underdevelopment, poverty, unemployment and inequality), cascade the norms of regionalism and instill a sense of South Asian community.
Finally, let me express my deep gratitude to our Chief Guest, Rt. Hon’ble Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal for his kind presence in this programme. We appreciate it both as an encouragement and recognition of the Government of Nepal on the importance of non-government actors in promoting and strengthening regional cooperation in South Asia.
I wish you productive participation in the Summit and pleasant stay for foreign delegates.
Thank you.