South Asian CEOs forum to address trade barriers

Monday, 05 January 2004, 20:30 IST   |    3 Comments
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NEW DELHI: Ahead of the SAARC summit in Islamabad, industry lobbies of the seven member states Friday set up a CEOs forum to address trade barriers and to boost bilateral cooperation. The launch of the South Asia CEOs Forum was marked by a video conference on "Thinking beyond borders", at which the lobbies urged national leaders and policymakers to provide leadership and encouragement for driving economic relations across the region, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a statement. The forum comprising representatives from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives will present a joint statement to the national leaders at the SAARC summit during January 4-6. Comprising 10 CEOs from each of the seven members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the forum will meet bi-annually by rotation in all the countries. The participants consisted of representatives from the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bangladesh, Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bhutan, CII, the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Pakistan CEOs Forum and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) from Sri Lanka. The forum expressed hope the SAARC summit would be a great success and build on a shared vision for an integrated and open regional economy. Stressing the need for a roadmap for broad based economic cooperation, the forum reiterated the need for freer trade by commitment to completion of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement by 2005. "The forum emphasised that the basic precondition for success of SAARC is for the countries to believe in trade with neighbouring countries," the CII said. An emphasis on building cooperation in infrastructure, adequate trade facilitation measures by elimination of non-tariff barriers (including customs hurdles), liberalisation of trade in services to facilitate free movement of business representatives and skilled personnel within the region were among key issues of concern the forum sought focus on. "A key recommendation of the forum is to develop the region as a hub for manufacturing and outsourcing for technically advanced economies. Liberalising services will be an important enabler towards this end," the CII said. Harmonisation of product standards and technical specifications in a time bound programme and a regional policy for investment protection were other recommendations of the forum.
Source: IANS