Speakers at a brainstorming conference have urged regional free trade agreements (FTAs) for rapid socio-economic development and prosperity in South Asian region. They also agreed to cascade heavy military expenditures and nuclear capabilities, which as they considered were the main hindrances in the way of the economic progress and sustainable peace in the area.
A two-day conference titled "Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives" was organised by Sustainable Development and Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Wednesday.
The speakers hailing from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and other countries discussed regional economic issues at length and advocated the promotion of mutual trade and investment. In the session on Regional Trade Agreements and Conflict Mitigation, they stressed the need for strengthening regional trade at the multilateral level.
Mark Halle from Canada observed that current trends of trade and aid were powerful conduits of finance and influence and rich countries had a profound impact on the society, economy and stability of developing countries.
Rajesh Kumar from Kanpur, India debated whether or not the popular "China Model" could be applied to Indo-Pak relations and argued that in the existing deep-rooted political Indo-Pak conflict this model would not be applicable. Promotion of Indo-Pak trade had remained hostage to military janta of both countries, said Murshed from the University of Birmingham.
Renowned economist Akbar Zaidi said that although boundaries drawn by blood could not be ignored, economic co-operation should be encouraged to move towards sustainable trade development and peace. Shamsul Mulk, Chairman of SDPI's Board of Governors highlighted some of the key milestones achieved during the year in the areas of sustainable industrial development and others.
Renowned Indian publisher Urvashi Battalia stressed the need for a more inclusive process of peace negotiations and conflict resolution that bring men, women and minorities to the table.
Dr Urs Geiser from the University of Zurich, Switzerland said that there was a need to address the issue of forest degradation at local level. Niraj Shrestha from Nepal stressed those stakeholders and local communities must be given their due share by their respective governments in genetic resource sharing.
Later, Dr Attaur Reham, Chairman Higher Education Commission, who was the chief guest on the first day of the conference said that research knows no ethnic or geographic boundaries. All must join in the common pursuit of truth, he said and added that it not only offers space for intellectual debate and discussion across continents, but also leads to greater progress and sustainable development.
He elaborated that the Chancellors' Committee headed by the President of Pakistan had opened its doors for funding private sector universities, which would also enable research organisations to submit projects to HEC for financial support.
He said that Pakistan was fortunate to have 85 million youth below the age of 19, which represented a huge pool of creativity to be tapped and discovered.