COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Centre for Policy Studies. PHOTO: http://ciit-isb.edu.pk/
They were speaking at a national seminar on ‘South Asian cooperation towards sustainable future’, organised by COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Centre for Policy Studies here on Monday to discuss and explore ways and means to promote trade between developing countries.
The seminar was held in connection with the “South-South cooperation” observed by the UN on September 12 every year to promote trade between developing countries also known as global south.
United Nations Development Programme Assistant Country Director Shakeel Ahmad said that the South-South cooperation is a term commonly used to describe transfer of resources and knowledge among developing countries.
“The word south is referred to generally poor countries, however, I don’t think that the connotation will last long given the economic development in many developing countries,” he said, adding that by 2080 more than 80 per cent of middle class will be living in developing countries, leading to the emergence of a new economic block.
While urging developing countries to enhance their economic relations with regional and global counterparts, Ahmad said that “the global south is now becoming a source of development as South Asia is home to most populous countries of the world”.
“Four major barriers to the South-South cooperation have been limited knowledge, lack of resources, technical funding to manage the start-up and political will, and we should work towards reducing these barriers,” Ahmad said adding that “after 40 years, the South-South cooperation was becoming more of a necessity than a formality, since it is cheaper, faster and cost-effective”.
Institute of Strategic Studies Director-General Masood Khan, who was the chief guest, said that in order to attain the SDGs, “we need to focus not only on quantity but also quality of products to discover new markets and demands as we need to diversify products and navigate new destinations”.
“No conversation on the South-South cooperation will be complete without scientific and technological advancement and the ultimate objective should be to create more pathways through which the global south can work together to enhance the development process,” Khan said.
COMSATS’ Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South Executive Director Dr Imtinan Elahi Qureshi discussed dynamics of sustainability associated with development and cooperation among developing countries.
He said that none of millennium development goals talk about information technology (IT) and its application in space which has a very vital role and “Internet and mobile phones have changed our way of life in the past few years”.
Defining sustainable future as development decisions that do not compromise on the wellbeing of future generations, Qureshi said it was imperative for developing countries to build their infrastructure in terms of IT.
President of Islamabad Policy Research Institute Sohail Amin, Met Department’s former chairman Dr Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhary and others also spoke at the event.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2015.
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