ISLAMABAD, May 6: Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Tariq Sayeed has stressed the need for tangible business proposals for getting maximum benefits from economic cooperation in South Asia.

“Tangible and productive business proposals are required to capitulate maximum benefits from Safta, which will inspire business communities in South Asia to actively participate in the economic integration of the region,” he said while addressing the inaugural session of a seminar on “Quantification of Benefits from Regional Cooperation in South Asia.”

The seminar was organised by Foreign Trade Institute of Pakistan (FTIP), in collaboration with Asian Development Bank (ADB)-Unctad at a local hotel here on Tuesday.

The seminar, which constituted three sessions, was inaugurated by Senior Joint Secretary Commerce Shahid Bashir.

The SCCI president appreciated the ADB and Unctad for their intellectual contribution and said if proposals and policy recommendations provided in the study were implemented by member states in letter and spirit, a revolutionary and much awaited change in the economic development of the region would occur.

He said the private sector was convinced that such studies, which provide qualitative and quantitative analysis of trade, industry, investment and services sectors were quite helpful in exploiting the untapped potential.

He suggested that the Asian Development Bank and Unctad should conduct sectoral studies keeping in view the competency of each member country, which he added, would be more productive and practical, enabling businessmen to enter in a certain market.

He said that the pace of development in South Asian regions was negligible since inception of Saarc in 1985.

The intra-regional trade in South Asia witnessed only minute improvement from 3.16 per cent to less than five per cent in 2007, while during the same period the it has grown from 32 per cent to 55 per cent in EU, from 25 per cent to 62 per cent in Nafta, from 12 to 25 per cent in Asean and from 10 to 22 per cent in the region of COMESA.

This, he said clearly indicated lack of commitment by the contracting parties of Safta.

He emphasised the need for creating complementarities, SMEs development and investment through joint ventures in mutually interested areas to foster economic integration in south Asia.

FTIP Director-General Dr Safdar A Sohail and ADB’s Country Head Peter L. Fedon also addressed the inaugural session.

The second session was chaired by the chairman of National Commission for Government Reforms of Pakistan Government Dr Ishrat Hussain.

The other speakers at the sessions included ADB’s Regional Cooperation Specialist Kavita Iyengar, Unctad Economist Rashmi Banga, Executive Director SDPI, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri and ADB’s Principal Country Economist in India, Pratima Dayal.The seminar was conducted to share views of stakeholders of the country and the South Asian region on the study

The study provides country-specific comparative advantages and also gives an in-depth analysis on trade and industrial potential of member states of Saarc and also identifies some core services sector that would help augment intra-regional economic cooperation in South Asia.—APP