The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS) organised a dialogue on South Asian Co-operation at the BRAC Centre Inn, Dhaka on March 30th, where reports of the four Task Forces were presented. Reports on SAFTA and WTO were presented at the first session which was addressed by Hon'ble Commerce Minister Mr Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, MP and former Commerce Minister Mr Tofail Ahmed as the Chief Guest and Special Guest, respectively. The second session, focused on Investment and Energy, was attended, among others by Hon'ble State Minister for Power Mr Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, MP as the Chief Guest and Mr Faruk Khan, MP as the Special Guest. The sessions were presided over by CPD Chairman and SACEPS Executive Director Professor Rehman Sobhan.

In the presentation on WTO, CPD Research Director Professor Mustafizur Rahman pointed out that the aggregate marginality of South Asia remains the most obvious reason for co-operation. He suggested de minimis approach as a good starting point for the South Asian Countries for setting a collective agenda in the WTO. Participants called for more liberal Rules of Origin (RoO) for Bangladesh to be persuaded at the next WTO Ministerial meeting scheduled to be held in Cancun, Mexico. The Commerce Minister termed the prevailing 30 per cent stipulation in the RoO to be untenable for Bangladesh and demanded reduction of restriction up to 25 per cent. He argued for removal of such non-tariff barriers to turn globalisation and free trade beneficial to the LDCs. The Minister then underscored the need for rapid implementation of the SAPTA for quick move of the region towards the proposed South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA).


CPD Executive Director Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya making his presentation while Mr Faruk Khan, MP, Professor Rehman Sobhan, Mr Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, MP and Professor Edmond Gomez look on.

Speakers at the dialogue on South Asian Cooperation. From left to right: Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Mr Tofail Ahmed, Professor Rehman Sobhan, Mr Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, MP, Mr Muchkund Dubey and Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.

Blaming India for dragging its heel in trade negotiation with Bangladesh, former Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed pointed out that earlier free access offered to Bangladeshi products by India was not beneficial to us and argued that in regional trading group larger countries have to take initiative towards liberalisation. Mr Ahmed also raised the possibilities and potentials for future co-operation between South Asia and ASEAN. Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Mr Muchkund Dubey defended allegation against India by informing that New Delhi is currently considering duty free access, to be provided in phases, for a list of items specified by Dhaka. He also acknowledged that the high percentage of domestic value addition criteria has prevented the smaller South Asian economies from meeting local content requirement of the Rules of Origin (RoO) under the SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) and, as a result, have eroded the effectiveness of tariff preferences extended under the three rounds of SAPTA tariff negotiations.
CPD Executive Director Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya in his presentation on Investment informed the Task Force recommendations in favour of dispute resolution and removal of hidden barriers to the movement of intra-SAARC movement of FDI. Professor A K M A Quader of BUET, while presenting the Task Force report on Energy, stressed the need for developing a regional energy market in South Asia. State Minister for Power Mr Iqbal Hasan Mahmud acknowledged the need for reform in the power sector of Bangladesh towards unbundling of generation, transmission and distribution. He pointed out that the success of a regional grid will largely depend upon mutual trust among South Asian countries. Mr Faruk Khan, MP suggested cutback of defence expenditure and identified rivalry between India and Pakistan to be a major hurdle in co-operation, whether on energy or on investment.

In collaboration with the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) CPD organised a dialogue on Strengthening the Role of Private Sector Housing in Bangladesh Economy: The Policy Challenges, on March 11, 2003 at the CIRDAP Auditorium, Dhaka. The dialogue was attened by, among others Hon'ble Minister for Finance and Planning, Mr M Saifur Rahman, MP as the Chief Guest and Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Mr Shoaib Ahmed as the Special Guest.

In the keynote presentation, CPD Executive Director Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya pointed out that the country would require about four million new houses annually to meet the future demand up to the next 20 years. He said that some 5,000 engineers, 6,000 management staff and one million people are directly or indirectly involved in the country's real estate sector. Where the annual demands for housing in urban areas varied from 300,000 to 500,000 units, the number of

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