LAHORE: SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CII) Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik Wednesday said South Asian countries need to work together with a “strong business agenda” in services trade as the SAARC region has a huge potential.
Speaking to journalists after returning from 3-day “6th SAARC Business
Leaders Conclave” held at Kathmandu, Iftikhar Malik, leader of Pakistan
delegation said “SAARC countries of this region need to work together with
a very strong business agenda to take advantage of our geographical
proximity, cultural similarities and economic complementaries that we all
inherited in this region.”
He said the conclave was a big success as all the business leaders and
ministers from Bhuttan,Nepal and Aghanistan hailing from the SAARC member
states especially Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli who graced the
mega event unanimously agreed to this point that economy has to be the most
important agenda for the SAARC nations despite political challenges and
compulsions coupled with political vibrations . Economic agenda has to be
the foremost important agenda for the political parties. Unfortunately, in
our region it is not the top priority, somehow due to all our thought
process. He said thrusting the economic agenda foremost should be all ours
guiding force for our durable relationships. Our political agendas are
never-ending. We really need to come out of conglomerate and see how
economic agendas can be prioritized and equally materialized truly ?
Comparing South Asia with other regions across the globe, Iftikhar Malik
said with more than one-fifth of the world’s population, the SAARC region
is home to two-fifths of the world’s poor. However, it accounts for only 3
per cent of global output and 2 per cent of world exports. Intra-regional
trade has stagnated at around 5 per cent of its total trade, compared to
over 50 per cent in East Asia and around 20 per cent in Latin America. Even
Sub-Saharan Africa, with poor transport and telecommunication
infrastructure, scores over South Asia, with over 10 per cent of its trade
being intra-regional.
He said India, a connecting land mass and the largest economy of the
region, has a special responsibility in increasing intra-regional economic
integration and must facilitate access to its large markets for SAARC
members. Its above-average growth, expanding middle-class population, and
demand for global goods can prove to be an engine of growth for the region.
He said another issue which is creating hindrance is non-tariff barriers
and again it is the duty of India to step forward to resolve this issue by
extending cooperation with other member states to boost trade in the
region. He said another hurdle is lack of awareness about non-tariff
barriers (NTBs) and stakeholders like business associations should organise
seminars to make traders aware of the procedures followed by each
countries. The move would help in increasing trade,” he added.
He said SAARC member states should focus on tourism too allowing
intra-regional trade in services would enable South-Asian economies to
become more globally competitive. Similarly, energy and electricity
cooperation are non-traditional areas of trade relationship development.
“An integration of electricity grids across South Asia will reduce power
costs and enhance manufacturing competitiveness for all members, and should
be high priority. Huge hydro-electric potential exists in Pakistan, Nepal,
Bhutan, Afghanistan and India, which could be tapped for intra-regional
power trade,” he added.
SAARC member states unanimously widely appreciated the remarkable
contribution of “Pakistan” for raising a state of the art 9 story SAARC
Chamber headquarters building in Islamabad which speaks of the dedication
and whole hearted personal efforts of Iftikhar Ali Malik for successfully
taking the project into hand which is now scheduled to be completed by
September next.
The development of logistical hubs that facilitate the flow of trade across
the region would greatly reduce the costs of doing business. Such hubs
should be multi-modal, incorporating containerised and non-containerised
cargo and moving via rail, road, air and shipping links. “These logistical
hubs would connect critical regional corridors, especially with countries
having no common borders,” he concluded.
Advisor to SAARC Chamber Zubair Ahmad Malik present on the
occasion said that it was definitely an effort to push SAARC member
countries on the track of success for greater prosperity and economic
development in the region. He said if we all stands united under the
umbrella of SAARC burying political quagmire especially Pakistan and India
the economic growth will promise progress which will definitely leads to
the greater weal of the people, an agenda of SAARC.
