South Asia could raise regional trade to $20 billion: World Bank

South Asia could raise its annual trade volume more than six times to $20 billion from only $3 billion at present if countries in the region co-operated more among themselves, a senior World Bank official said on Sunday.
"Potential for South Asia trade is between $15 and $20 billion if we look at the indicator of informal trade," said Sadiq Ahmed, a World Bank director of regional cooperation for South Asia.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the major countries in south Asia, carry out only 5 percent of their total trade among themselves, Sadiq said.
"To reap the fruits of cooperation, the nations need to have consensus among their political and business leaders ... to remove all bottlenecks including tariff and non-tariff barriers," he told reporters.
Tariffs up to 25 percent, along with other charges, were highest in the world, while tariffs elsewhere were never more than 15 percent, he said.
To improve regional trade, Sadiq proposed a single customs declaration, one-stop border posts, standard border crossing processes, harmonised transit charges, simpler travel rules and a visa exemption for businessmen.
He also stressed security in food, water and energy.
"This is a massive problem especially for the least developed countries and they can not solve it in isolation as at present those are global issues," the Washington based official said.
Bhutan and Nepal are already actively engaged in exporting hydro-power to energy-hungry neighbour India. "The hydro-power potential in Nepal is estimated at 80,000 megawatts, of which at least 40,000 MW is considered economical," Sadiq said.
He said the neighbouring countries including energy-starved Bangladesh could meet energy demand largely through intra regional cooperation. "Nepal can also almost double its per capita income in a few years with appropriate investments in hydro-power along with trading arrangements with its neighbours, especially India," Sadiq said. "Over the longer term, an integrated South Asia power grid can provide power to all countries on a market basis."