Editorial»
Go beyond symbolism
JAN 09 - Symbolism often trumps substance since it captures people’s imagination. That became apparent once again in the 12th SAARC Summit, where the substantive agreements on real issues of economic cooperation were relegated into the footnotes — thanks to new-found bonhomie between the two nuclear arch-rivals, India and Pakistan. Peace between these two rivals-at-birth is important, no doubt. But that is just a precondition for better regional cooperation, not an end in itself. What matters at the end of the day is how much progress we have made in enhancing regional cooperation on real issues that matter to the lives of one-third of the world’s poor residing in South Asia.
Fortunately, even when viewed through the prism of realism, the Islamabad Summit will go down the annals of SAARC as a fresh start in regional cooperation. SAFTA Framework Agreement signed this week in Islamabad is a definitive commitment of SAARC leaders to bury their lacklustre past and move towards real economic cooperation. True that SAFTA Framework was agreed upon in rush, without sorting out differences on major contentious issues. However, if not anything else, the Islamabad Summit has made one real difference when it comes to moving towards free trade area: It has set a timeline.
Now all the contentious issues, including rules of origins, sensitive list of the member countries, and revenue compensation mechanism, will have to be agreed upon and SAFTA Framework ratified by the member countries by January 1, 2006. The next phase will be a painful one for SAARC. Regional trading blocs have never been a happy marriage worldwide. It could be tougher in South Asia than anywhere else due to huge asymmetry in the size of economy and market of the member countries. Home to diverse countries with less than four hundred thousand population to over one billion, the asymmetry in South Asia can hardly be exaggerated.
Therefore when SAARC trade officials sit for negotiations next time, they should be mindful about the problems of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the region. With small scope of their economy— some of them beset by landlockedness—LDCs will be entering the regional free trade area with a real disadvantage. The developing member countries of SAARC will do well to take up the legitimate concerns of their poor counterparts seriously. SAFTA will become successful only if the member countries feel that they are gaining in terms of trade, revenue and employment. That’s a tall challenge—though not impossible — to meet. If the members, especially LDCs, lose in these key areas, regional cooperation will give way to acrimony. Thus peace and prosperity are interdependent— peace has created an environment for economic cooperation but only economic prosperity can sustain that peace. Let’s move beyond symbolism.Posted on: 2004-01-09 03:08
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