SAARC CCI President For Integrating South Asia To Make It 2nd Largest World Economy

SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President, Ruwan Edirisinghe Friday said South Asia can be propelled faster to find its rightful place in the world if its member states develop as an integrated economy which would make South Asia the second- largest economy in the world

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Dec, 2018 ) :SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President, Ruwan Edirisinghe Friday said South Asia can be propelled faster to find its rightful place in the world if its member states develop as an integrated economy which would make South Asia the second- largest economy in the world.

Addressing at the "Twenty-first Sustainable Development Conference" & "Eleventh South Asia Economic Summit" organized by SDPI, Ruwan Edirisinghe said that he is much optimistic that the stakes for regional economic integration are clearly high and its prospects are bright, said a press release.

He said despite robust economic growth in the recent years by member countries in the region, South Asia accounts for less than 5 percent of world's gross domestic product and nearly 40 percent of its inhabitants live on less than $1.25 per day.

"Daunting challenges from climate change, environmental degradation, and increasing inequalities pose serious threats to South Asia's growth and prosperity in the future," he pointed out.

He further said through this august Summit, which is well represented by thinkers, policy makers and economic managers, private sector is referred as "engine of growth" but its recognition in true sense is yet to be realized.

He said an investment-friendly environment to promote trade in the region if appropriate steps are taken timely to remove trade barriers and streamline custom procedures, intra-regional trade in South Asia would nearly quadruple from the current USD 28 billion to over USD 100 billion.

Ruwan said now it is high time for the member states to focus on establishing regional value chains or regional value platforms like the ASEAN countries to attract foreign investment. They should also work to remove the restrictions for incoming FDI, such as scarcity of land to set up business.

They should also address frequent corruption, inordinate bureaucratic delays and property disputes, which harm investment environment. "To attract foreign investment, South Asia can also take certain steps to reduce corporate and personal income taxes in high priority sectors, subject to avoiding counterproductive regional competition," he added.

He further said in order to tap full resources, first of all three major challenges facing South Asia in process of integrating this region should be addressed immediately that include addressing political interference, finding ways to restructure both production and export processes, and ensuring infrastructural development.

Explaining the political hindrance, Ruwan said political barriers come in the way of ensuring trade and transport integration in Asia. When you deal with South Asian issues or cross-border issues, we are traditionally supposed to be dealing with both institutional political players and institutional personal interests through the foreign ministries.

Senior Vice President SAARC chamber Iftikhar Ali Malik said that if all outstanding core issues among the SAARC members were resolved amicably through peaceful and result oriented parleys especially with India then this region can comfortably emerge a global super power otherwise poor strata of this region will continue to suffer and cannot flourish in the days to come.

He said that newly elected top sagacious and dynamic leadership of PTI headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan had already announced soon after coming into power that if India moves one step forward then Pakistan will advance double which reflects the policy of the government of Pakistan towards normalization of relations and now India should display the same spirit demonstrated by Pakistan for quick development and prosperity in the region.