35-member businessmen panel leaves for Nepal

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: A 35-member businessmen delegation Tuesday left for Kathmandu, Nepal to participate in three-day “6th SAARC Business Leaders Conclave, commencing from March 16, will explore the investment avenues in agriculture, industrial and energy sectors and promote trade among the member countries in South Asia.

Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will inaugurate the Conclave followed by ministerial round and technical sessions, colorful musical and cultural evenings. The Conclave is aimed at promoting people to people and cultural connectivity in the region. Conclave will witness the largest gathering of 500 private sectors representatives of South Asia.

Talking to media prior to departure to Kathmandu, SAARC CCI Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik who is leading the delegation, said the distinctive features of the event would also be highlighted during the deliberations, besides the briefing to the participants on regional issues confronting the South Asian countries hindering in the way of rapid economic prosperity. The measures need to be taken to make South Asia prosperous, promote trade and investment in the region, resolve economic and political issues in South Asia and deepen cooperation in energy and cooperative sectors would also be discussed, he said.

He said this mega event will bring positive change in South Asian economic and political outlook as leading business leaders, politicians, opinion makers, senior dignitaries from public and private sectors of SAARC member nations, prominent academicians, and industry players, renowned and celebrated figures of South Asia being the drivers of socio-economic change will vocally advocate policies that promote regional economic cooperation. Responding to a question regarding progress of SAARC CCI towards integration of economy in South Asia, Malik said he is always optimistic about the bright future of South Asia despite this fact that SAARC has taken small steps at a time there has never been a case of looking back.  As a result, SAARC today has many a success story to relate.” He further said, “Since the early 1990s, SAARC has taken several important initiatives to enhance regional economic integration.

The SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA), the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), and more recently, the SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) are landmark agreements in the pursuit of our common objective of speedy regional integration. With the coming into being of these agreements, statistical evidence suggests that intra-sub regional trade among SAFTA members is rising slowly and steadily. South Asia’s intra-sub-regional trade share increased substantially.

Answering another query, he said that private sector of the region was committed to the socio-economic integration of South Asia. He said that business community of the region believed in harmony and advocates regional economic integration to address the major challenges the region faces including job creation and poverty. The regional economic cooperation between SAARC member states would help to unleash the true economic potential of South Asia, he added.