By IANS,
New Delhi : National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon will inaugurate a two-day seminar here next week that will focus on the ongoing transformation of South Asia and new initiatives to spur regional integration.
The third edition of the Asian Relations Conference, to be held here March 9-10, will bring together 30 experts from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, to discuss issues that impinge on growth and stability in South Asia.
“We need to explore possibilities about how to integrate the region at various levels, including political, economic and cultural,” Sudhir T. Devare, director-general of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), told reporters here Friday.
The new winds of change are blowing across South Asia and in the world, said Devare ahead of the seminar entitled ‘Transforming South Asia: Imperatives for Action.’
The seminar will focus on stepping up regional integration and look at non-traditional security issues like energy, environment and global commons, said Devare.
The two-day conference 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 March 10.
The ICWA is co-organizing the conference with the Association of Asian Scholars.
South Asia is one of the world’s least integrated regions, with intra-region trade accounting for barely 5 per cent of total trade in South Asia, said Devare, while noting positive movements like Pakistan’s decision to move from positive to negative list, a key step in the direction of Pakistan granting India the Most Favoured Nation status.
The bilateral trade between India and Pakistan, which is currently around $2 billion, has the potential to grow to $10 billion.
Nine experts from Pakistan, including Sartaj Aziz, former finance and foreign minister, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi, former high commissioner to India, and Liaquat Habib Merchant, chairman of the Karachi Council for Foreign Relations, will be participating in the discussions.
The conference seeks to understand this rapid change by addressing major issues using multiple perspectives of experts and practitioners of international relations.
“The test of South Asia now is to benefit from the process of globalization through deeper regional integration, eventually creating a South Asian economic union. To achieve this goal, a deliberate shift from independence to interdependence is needed, with identified areas for implementation,” says the concept note for the conference.