‘South Asian countries need strong business agenda to progress’

ISLAMABAD: South Asian countries need to work together with a "strong business agenda" in services trade, as the SAARC region has a huge potential, an official said on Wednesday.

Returning from the three-day 6th SAARC Business Leaders Conclave, which was held in Kathmandu, Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SAARC CCI) Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik said, "SAARC countries need to work together with a very strong business agenda to take advantage of geographical proximity, cultural similarities and economic complementaries that all inherited in this region, a statement said.

The conclave was a big success, as all the business leaders and ministers from Bhuttan, Nepal and Afghanistan 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, he said.

Comparing South Asia with other regions across the globe, Malik said that 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 three percent of global output and two percent of world exports, Malik said.

Intra-regional trade has stagnated at around five percent of its total trade as compared to over 50 percent in East Asia and around 20 percent in Latin America.

Even Sub-Saharan Africa, with poor transport and telecommunication infrastructure, scores over South Asia, with over 10 percent of its trade being intra-regional, he said.

The SAARC CCI official 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.

Another hurdle is the lack of awareness about non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and stakeholders such as business associations should organise seminars to make traders aware of the procedures; followed by each countries, which would help increase trade.

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, he added.

SAARC member states unanimously appreciated the remarkable contribution of Pakistan for raising a state-of-the-art nine storied SAARC Chamber headquarters building in

Islamabad, which is scheduled to be completed by September.