Islamabad April 28 (inp) : Ruwan Edirisinghe, (Pakistan Point news - 28th Apr, 2018): Ruwan Edirisinghe, President SAARC Chamber Saturday said South Asia has tremendous trade potential, which needs to be tapped with a shared vision of 2030 envisaged to address core trade issues which are hindering the overall growth of the region. Presiding over a high level meeting of Senior Vice President and Vice Presidents of member states of SAARC Chamber held here, Ruwan Edirisinghe said Asian economies including China, Japan and India are expanding and gearing up to capture world markets which clearly indicates the importance of Asia in the global economy.
He was of the opinion that South Asia will play an important role in the future particularly by materializing the vision of 2030. "In short term, what we want to do is business between our countries; trade and industrial development, and transportation problems and all that to sort out up to the maximum extent that we can do. And as long-term target we want to use the opportunities of South Asian countries; their economies, to bring up SAARC CCI as the best, vibrant chamber in the world by 2030," he added.
While explaining security and political barriers as the main challenges faced by South Asian countries he urged to celebrate the current successes instead of focusing on the issues. Because SAARC nations show the best improvement in terms of GDP growth which averages at over 6.5% which means "SAARC countries have the highest rate of growing economies in the world". He also noted that the biggest economies for the next two decades are supposed to be from Asia, which is a vital opportunity for South Asian countries.
Edirisinghe mentioned that political unrest is happening all over the world including Europe and America. Therefore, he recommends the business world to look beyond it and find solutions regardless of imbalanced political situations. About China's growing influence in the region, Edirisinghe said that we should be able to look at that as an opportunity given their big population which provides a good market to tap into."When you're doing free trade agreements, mostly what is happening is, underdeveloped countries are getting less benefits than developed countries because negotiation and bureaucracy in underdeveloped countries is very much weaker than strong countries", he added.
SAARC Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik representing the Pakistan said they have studied and analyzed the potential of the region and they have already planned to implement all the strategies to achieve the goals in the region. He said about 55 per cent of the total potential for intra-regional trade in South Asia has not been fully exploited yet and this can be improved through shared vision about objectives, transfer of technology and exchange of research and development.
He further said despite multiple hurdles, it is a good omen that SAARC CCI role for promotion of business environment in the region was appreciated by its critics. Highlighting the importance of the South Asia in the world economy, he said after the initiation of Pak-china economic corridor, Pakistan's role in global trade supply chain would have multiplier effect on socio-economics of the region of South Asia as well.SAARC has made notable progress in a number of areas including trade, finance, poverty alleviation, human resource development, women empowerment, children welfare, rural development, anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics and environment, he concluded Vice Chairman Building Committee Zubair Ahmad Malik, Vice Chairman SAARC Chamber Young Entrepreneur, Shaharyar Ali Malik, Secretary General SAARC Chamber Ms Hina Saeed and Deputy Secretary General Zulfiqar Ali Butt were also present on the occasion.
