Regional cooperation: Experts for change in mindset, removing political hurdles

Salman Shah says Pak-India ties will always be a challenge for the region.

ISLAMABAD: Economic wizards, former diplomats and academics have called for a change in the traditional mindset, removal of political constraints to resolve conflicts and strengthening trade and cooperation among South Asian states.

Experts from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan discussed prospects of trade and potential growth in the region at a two-day international conference concluded on Thursday.

Former State Bank of Pakistan governor Dr Ishrat Husain described India as the pivot of South Asia with whose cooperation the region could enter an era of unprecedented progress and regional trade could soar 15 times in a matter of years.

But all that depended on India’s realisation of its position and responsibilities and if it gave space to its regional partners to work for collective good.



Husain was addressing the concluding session of the conference on “Future of Economic Cooperation in Saarc countries” organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute and Hans Seidel Foundation.

He said it was time the countries of the region displayed maturity of thought and action and stopped blame games. He said non-tariff barriers were a bogey and advocated early phasing out of negative lists.

Earlier, speaking on the South Asia free trade agreement (Safta) and joint economic ventures in the context of “Asian century”, Dr Salman Shah, former federal finance minister, said Pakistan’s inclusion in a futuristic era with its present dismal social and economic indices was a distant dream unless a determined effort was made to exploit the great human and material potential the country possessed.

“India-Pakistan relations have been a game of snakes and ladders. There’s a snake waiting at every step of the ladder. Once bitten, we have to start from scratch,” he said.

Saarc had the potential to become a hub of competition provided India and Pakistan changed their traditional mindset, he added.

The former minister suggested the setting up of joint infrastructure including a development bank for Saarc.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Shah said businesses needed a secure environment but prevailing relations between India and Pakistan would always be a challenge for the whole region. “Political rivalry and disputes between India and Pakistan are not allowing much progress,” he said.

Commenting on the present government’s stance on regional economic development and relations with India, Shah said Indians were not willing to give Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a chance.

He said general elections in India would be a game changer, adding present policies were not working in Pakistan’s favour, but the new government in Delhi, if willing, could make changes.

Competitiveness had been an issue for the past seven years and many issues including non-tariff barriers, agriculture, trade and products on the sensitive list would remain a challenge for a while, he said.

“We need to improve our own capacity to trade. Pakistan’s finances are only financing the government and not entrepreneurship.”

Dr Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, Dean Faculty of Contemporary Studies, National Defence University, in his presentation, said dispute resolution needed political will, some forum or mechanism for its exercise, informal diplomacy and alternative methods such as mediation and arbitration.

The recommendations of the conference will be presented to Saarc members and the proceedings and papers will be published in the form of a book by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2013.

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