SAARC platform not utilising regional prospects properly: Speakers

Despite the huge commercial potential, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has not yet been able to tap into the budding prospects, experts said today (4 November). 

Speaking at a session titled "Identifying New Opportunities and New Modalities for Fostering Regional Cooperation in South Asia", SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry's President Md Jashim Uddin, said, "We [Bangladesh] are buying energy for electricity from outside of this region, whereas we have our own resources available. 

"Nepal has the capacity of 85,000 megawatt power and Bhutan has 30,000. But we are not getting this."

Highlighting other areas where lack of regional cooperation was glaring, Jashim Uddin, also former president of the FBCCI, said, "Our exports to India amount to only $2 billion, whereas India imports more than $100 billion from China. They [Indian businesses] don't know what type of products we can produce," he said. 

"The problem is from our side. We can't market our products properly."

Pointing out the disparity, he said, "SAARC country's business accounts for only 7% of the whole trade within the union. Regional trade is not there despite the huge potential."

Mentioning that it takes 2-3 months to get an Indian visa – business or otherwise – he stressed the need for policy support to bring momentum to the SAARC Chamber.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, chairing the session on the first day of two summits of the 14th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES XIV) organised by the Center for Policy Dialogue, said, "Don't write off the SAARC and the many modalities within the SAARC still there. Let us concentrate on creating political momentum in favour of SAARC."

He also urged everyone to explore new and creative opportunities.

"We should look for new political level opportunities, particularly since politics is one of the major impediments. We have to create political momentum from the regional level," he said.

Dr Shekhar Shah, vice chairman of the Academic Advisory Council, Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP), India, highlighted the importance of regional cooperation between countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"We should not forget the lessons learned during the pandemic. Cross border cooperation in public health issues…is an extremely  viable area for cooperation in this region."

Dr Ishrat Husain, former governor, State Bank of Pakistan, and former advisor to the prime minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, said, "Despite the political stress, exchange of students, artists and media personalities can ease the tensions."

Durga Bhattrarai, former foreign secretary of Nepal, also cautioned against moving away from the platform.

"Doing away with SAARC is entirely suicidal South Asia," he said. 

When Debapriya Bhattacharya, also a distinguished fellow of Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), asked the audience, how many of them believed that it would be suicidal to dissolve SAARC, most raised their hands.