Political will is a must for boosting cooperation among SAARC countries. This was the essence of a dialogue on the upcoming 13th SAARC Summit held in the city on Wednesday.

Organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in the city’s BRAC Inn Centre, the dialogue was chaired by Prof Muhammad Yunus and addressed, among others, by Awami League Presidium member Tofail Ahmed and CPD Executive Director Debapriya Bhattacharya.

Addressing the gathering as the chief guest, Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan said South Asia is uniquely poised to enter a new phase of growth and prosperity.

Foreign minister pointed out that South Asia remains a region with the largest concentration of the world’s poor, adding that the intra-regional trade is minimal and there are still a lot of obstacles that impede broad-based economic progress.

Khan stressed the need for launching South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) by January 2006. He emphasised on more economic integration among SAARC countries to implement SAFTA. “There is a need to go beyond narrow self-interest,” the foreign minister said.

Regarding poverty alleviation, the minister said that there must be a renewed commitment to reduce poverty in the region. He also urged the members of civil society to play due role in making the SAARC an effective regional forum.

In his address, former commerce minister and presidium member of the opposition Awami League Tofail Ahmed said that cooperation is the key to the development of the region. “If we can resolve our political problems, we can solve our economic problems,” the AL leader added.

Regarding poverty alleviation, Tofail said that when in power, the Awami League government took a lot of steps to alleviate poverty in the South Asian region. “A comprehensive plan of action should be taken to alleviate poverty,” he said. Regarding Indo-Bangla relations, Tofail said that we are grateful to India for its help in our War of Liberation. Despite being a friend of Bangladesh, why India was not cooperating the way it should have, he asked.

Discussants in the dialogue dwelt issues relating to environment, defence, trade and commerce, bilateral issues among SAARC countries as well as amending the SAARC Charter to keep pace with the time.

Jatiya Party lawmaker GM Quader lamented the lack of mutual trust and cooperation among the governments of the SAARC member-states.

Former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hassan Chowdhury said that the parliaments of the SAARC countries should devote at least half a day per week to deliberate on SAARC issues.

Former foreign secretary Faruq Sobhan said that there should be a willingness among the heads of government of SAARC countries to get involved in its activities.

Foreign affairs advisor and chief co-ordinator of the upcoming SAARC Summit Reaz Rahman presented the keynote paper at the dialogue.

UNB adds: Experts at the dialogue stressed that in a region of 1.5 billion people, where most of the population lives in less than 1 dollar a day, poverty should be the prime challenge to be addressed. They also called for giving more focus on the security issues emanating from global fight against international terrorism and said fundamentalism and militancy should be controlled also from a regional perspective.

Prof Yunus said there was a lack of belief and trust among the SAARC member countries, which should be given up for regional interest. Frequent communication and meeting among the SAARC leaders can make building up confidence and trust, he opined.

Yunus called for making SAFTA an effective instrument for trade and economic cooperation among South Asian nations.

The CPD Executive Director said “the twin-headed dragon,” which is spiting fire in the form of poverty and terrorism has to be slain with goodwill and vision.

Among those who took part in the discussion are Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haq Inu, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Sardar Amjad Hossain, Prof AK Azad Choudhury, Prof Moniruzzaman Miah, Abul Hasan Choudhury, Col Farook Khan, GM Kader, Abu Hena, Sohel Ahmed Choudhury, Farooq Sobhan, AQM Rahim and Prof Selina Mohsin.