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New Delhi:
India Friday exhorted neighbouring countries not to let political
differences come in the way of faster integration to address
issues like terrorism, and underlined that there are "substantial
costs" to not doing business with each other in the region.
"South Asia has emerged as one of the fastest growing sub-regions
in the world with an average rate of growth of 8 percent sustained
over the past five years. Intra-regional trade within South Asia
has begun to grow and has doubled over the past five years,"
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon said here while
refuting "the traditional narrative of pessimism" about the
region.
"We have a moment in history which we should seize if we wish to
transform South Asia," he said.
Menon was delivering the keynote address at the third edition of
the two-day Asian Relations Conference on "Transforming South
Asia: Imperatives for action" at Sapru House.
"We are therefore at a point where it is increasingly evident to
all the countries in South Asia that there are substantial costs
to not moving forward by lowering tariffs, minimising sensitive
lists, and tackling non-tariff barriers," he said.
Menon admitted that South Asia has "more than its fair share of
issues with insurgencies, radicalism, terrorism, and extremism,"
but stressed that none of these issues has prevented this from
being "one of the fastest growing sub-regions in the world in the
last decade, and outperforming other sub-regions."
Contending that there are complex political problems between some
South Asian countries, a veiled reference to the accident-prone
India-Pakistan relationship, Menon suggested that South Asian
countries should focus on economics first and tackle political
issues in an incremental fashion.
"We should learn the same lesson and should build the economic and
other links that we can, while attempting to resolve the political
and security issues that divide us."
"We must not let political differences and fears stop the
processes of South Asian integration. At the same time states in
the sub-region must begin to meaningfully address and resolve the
political issues and disputes that divide them."
He also underlined the need for cooperative security frameworks
and architectures for this sub-region to tackle issues such as
terrorism, maritime security and cyber security. Over 30 scholars
and experts are participating in the two-day conference, which has
been organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and
the Association of Asian Scholars.
Sudhir T. Devare, director general of the ICWA, underlined the
need for greater regional integration. "Regional integration is a
trend witnessed in other parts of the world. It's relatively slow
in South Asia, but there is a huge opportunity," he said.
The time for action is opportune and propitious, he stressed.
Participating in a session on commonalities and convergences in
South Asia, scholars and experts from South Asian countries, that
included a number of past and serving envoys, talked about the
imperative and timelinesss of regional integration and suggested
various initiatives to help achieve this goal.
The global economic downturn and the eurozone recession has made
the imperative for greater intra-regional trade all the more
urgent, said Sartaz Aziz, Pakistan's former finance and foreign
minister.
Regional cooperation must extend beyond trade to energy, water and
monetary issues, he said. He also pitched for greater
people-to-people contacts, freer travel and a greater role of
media in "changing mindsets in the region".
The two-day seminar will culminate in a blueprint for action to
facilitate greater regional integration. Minister of State for
External Affairs E. Ahamed will deliver the valedictory address
Saturday.
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