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First
South Asia Economic Summit in Colombo next week
The 1st South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) (www.ips.lk/saes)
will be held in Colombo from August 28 to 31st in parallel
to the 8th SAARC Trade Fair in Colombo, providing a forum
for the exchange of innovative ideas and policy options to
tackle key regional issues.
The event at the BMICH would be attended by participants from
all the SAARC countries, bringing together a cross section
of stakeholders from the government, private sector and research
institutes in the region.
The Summit will focus on leading economic integration issues
including the status and challenges facing the South Asian
Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), and regional integration in
services and investment. Key regional infrastructure issues
such as transport, ICT and trade facilitation measures are
also addressed in separate sessions. Most importantly, the
Summit will provide a forum for discussion of regional solutions
to critical global challenges.
A surge in global energy costs has provided a platform for
regional cooperation in energy, particularly given the fact
that some members have surpluses in energy whilst others face
serious energy deficits. The global food crisis will also
be discussed from a South Asian perspective, debating regional
options and solutions. Climate change is another critical
challenge – interlinked with a whole gamut of development
related issues. Given the difficulties in achieving a global
consensus for action on this matter, the onus is on South
Asian countries to tailor solutions to regional threats within
the constraint of regional capabilities. The Summit will also
comprise a series of parallel sessions addressing a variety
of specific interests including Sri Lanka’s bilateral
trade arrangements with India and Pakistan and sectoral issues
such as cooperation in tourism, labour migration, and issues
facing weaker economies.
The main objectives of the South Asia Economic Summit are
to:
Take stock of the new economic-related issues emerging from
the 15th SAARC Summit;
Follow up on the major theme of the 14th SAARC Summit in 2007,
i.e., improving “connectivity” in the region (transport,
energy, and trade facilitation);
Look at deepening and broadening economic integration by fast
tracking goods liberalisation under SAFTA and incorporating
services and investment for liberalisation in the region,
respectively;
Examine measures to strengthen the SAARC process by empowering
the SAARC institutions and the Secretariat;
Look at integrating sub-regional economic cooperation to a
broader South Asian framework;
Analyze ways and means of encouraging more people-to-people
contact by promoting tourism and other means; and
Assess emerging new issues in South Asian economic cooperation.
These issues will be discussed in the context of achieving
the SAARC Development Goals (SDGs).
The SAES will be jointly organised by the Institute of Policy
Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) and the Federation of Chambers
of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL) in collaboration
with a number of institutes in the region: Research and Information
System for Developing Countries (RIS), India; South Asia Centre
for Policy Studies (SACEPS), Nepal; and South Asia Watch on
Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE), Nepal. The SAES
will also have collaboration and technical inputs from the
World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNDP Regional Centre
Colombo, and the Asian Development Bank.
The 15th SAARC Summit took place in Colombo during July 28
– August 3, 2008 and Sri Lanka will be holding the SAARC
Chair till the 16th SAARC Summit. In a period of global economic
turmoil, with traditional trade partners of South Asian countries
struggling in the wake of financial market crises, coupled
with soaring costs of energy and food, the need for regional
economic cooperation is paramount. Sri Lanka, holding the
Chair, has an opportunity and responsibility to provide the
leadership in setting the agenda to take SAARC through this
challenging time and to emerge a stronger regional grouping.
A key input for this process would be the contribution of
academia, the private sector and civil society of South Asia.
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