Finance
and Planning Minister M Saifur
Rahman yesterday said bigger nations
in South Asia have to come forward
with meaningful efforts and remove
'suspicions' from the psyche of
smaller states for a significant
cooperation in the region. He
said the smaller nations are suffering
from 'historical inherent suspicion'
about India, which is the most
powerful and the biggest state
in the region. "India has to make
a big stride towards removing
this suspicion from the minds
of its small neighbours for a
meaningful regional cooperation,"
Saifur told a gathering of civil
society representatives of South
Asian nations in the city.
He was chief guest at the inaugural
session of a two-day 'Policy Dialogue
on South Asian Cooperation' at
the BRAC Centre. The South Asia
Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS),
an institutional collaboration
of leading think-tanks and academic
institutions of South Asia, organised
the dialogue in association with
the Centre for Policy Dialogue
(CPD).
The two-day programme is an effort
by the scholars of the region
to focus on crucial areas of cooperation.
SACEPS was floated in February
1998 and publicly launched on
January 14, 2001 in Dhaka with
the aim to set up a facility for
institutionalising civil society
initiatives for strengthening
regional cooperation.
Chairman of SACEPS Prof. Arjun
K Sengupta presided over the inaugural
session. Minister for Planning
and National Development of the
Maldives Ibrahim Hussain Zaki,
Executive Director of SACEPS Prof.
Rehman Sobhan, Chairman of the
Marga Institute of Sri Lanka Godfrey
Gunatilleke, Dr Mohan Man Sainju
of the Institute for Integrated
Development Studies of Nepal and
Syed Babar Ali of Lahore University
of Management Science (LUMS),
Pakistan, also spoke on the occasion.
Saifur was also of the view that
the small states' efforts cannot
be enough in shaping a meaningful
regional cooperation unless the
bigger states come up in bigger
way. In this context he also mentioned
that the European Union could
succeed in forging a significant
regional block as France and Germany,
two powerful states of the region,
wanted it. The finance minister
also said that in different global
forums all the regional blocks
or groupings take a unified stand,
but the only exception is South
Asia. "If the politicians do not
decide to go for a meaningful
cooperation then no efforts will
work," Saifur said. "Everything
depends on the political will
of the masters who are governing."
Turning his eyes on globalisation,
Saifur said it has merits and
demerits as well. "But the poorer
nations are yet to get its due
benefits from the globalisation
process." He also said with the
process of globalisation fast
food chains like McDonalds and
Kentucky Fried Chicken are also
coming to developing countries.
"This is the bad side of globalisation.
These sorts of investment are
rubbish as it will not do anything
towards the development of a country."
Emphasising that the economic
cooperation has to lead in in
South Asia, Maldivian minister
Ibrahim Hussain Zaki said to make
it a reality SACEPS is also exploring
the possibility of establishing
a South Asian Development Forum
in the line of the World Development
Forum at Davos, Switzerland. "The
idea is still at infant stage.
But once realised it will give
greater opportunity to explore
vital areas of cooperation," he
added. Giving a brief résumé of
SACEPS and its efforts, Prof.
Rehman Sobhan said if the region
fails to foster a meaningful cooperation
then globalisation will take its
toll on the people of the region.
Godfrey Gunatilleke of Sri Lanka
was optimistic that despite persisting
problems among the states of the
region the rationality of economic
cooperation will ultimately get
top priority. Dr Mohan Man Sainju
of Nepal said external forces
mostly dictate policies of the
countries of the region. "The
homegrown policies are increasingly
becoming important for development
and SACEPS can act as an articulate
institute in this regard," he
observed. SACEPS Chairman Prof.
Arjun K Sengupta said a common
platform of the civil society
of South Asia is what they are
striving to put in place. "We
want to set up this institute
in Dhaka and we need help of the
Bangladesh government. Please
consider how we can institutionalise
this centre in Dhaka," he said
to the finance and planning minister.
To pursue the objectives of SACEPS,
six task forces prepared draft
reports on vital issues of cooperation
and development in South Asia.
The reports will be discussed
at the programme. The issues include
SAFTA, the WTO, investment cooperation,
cooperation in energy sector,
macro-economic policies and also
preparation of a 'citizens' social
charter' for the region. Once
finalised, the task force reports
will be handed over to the heads
of governments of the South Asian
countries. The inaugural session
was followed by two technical
sessions on energy cooperation
and SAARC social charter.
