Tariff, non-tariff barriers hamper trade integration in S Asia
The Asian economic recovery will be driven by the continental growth and China-India relations after the world economic crisis, said speakers on Sunday at a seminar organised by the International Chambers of Commerce Bangladesh. They also pointed out that tariff and non-tariff barriers hamper the trade integration in South Asia and suggested that formation of a South Asian custom union would solve the problem.
Promotion of interregional Asian export, not just the raw materials but the finished goods, is important, they said.
The ICCB organised a two-day conference on ‘Global Economic Recovery: Asian Perspective’ to mark its 20th anniversary.
‘From the two days of deliberations by experts and stakeholders from home and abroad we find that Asian growth will be driven by regional growth, political cooperation among the states of the region and China-India relations,’ ICCB president Mahbubur Rahman told reporters at a press briefing after the conference.
He, however, said that the sustainability of the Asian recovery would depend on the recovery of the rest of the world after the global economic meltdown in 2008.
‘We are in a phase of recovery though Bangladesh was hit less hard than others. We need to be prepared for any such unforeseen economic disaster,’ he said.
He said that in the two-day seminar there were one plenary session and three business sessions which were attended by 450 participants and 40 speakers from 10 countries.
‘We are at the recovery phase but in the South Asian context we need to draw a line between the politics and business. We need to understand that politic is not business and business is not politics,’ Dhaka University economics teacher Md Ali Taslim said while speaking at a business session earlier on the day.
He also said that during the recovery and development process the environmental issue would be crucial.
‘Environmental risks are the worst and Bangladesh could be a significant sufferer of the problems if we don’t take care of those,’ he said.
Former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said that the recovery of the Asian economy would go through the process from resilience to growth acceleration.
‘Political commitment and proper policy support are the keys to such transformation. Earlier we used to think western liberal democracy was the answer to all the problems but now countries like China and Japan also have made their names,’ he said.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association president Atiqul Islam said that the country was growing as well as the other Asian economies.
‘After the tragic Rana Plaza incident we faced factory inspection by the western buyers and less than two per cent of our factories were found faulty. Now the sustainability compact and factory inspection should be applicable for other countries otherwise we will lose the competitiveness,’ he said.
Centre for Policy Dialogue distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya, however, said that development of Asia was not only depend on China and India.
‘The growth is much more elaborated than that,’ he said.
Johannes Zutt, Bangladesh country director of the World Bank, said that the South Asian countries needed more investment in order to maintain decent growth.
‘Tackling corruption and maintaining political stability are the key challenges for most of the South Asian countries as long as growth is concerned,’ he said.
He said that the region was hit hard by the global financial crisis as the growth of the region was cut down by half in recent years.
‘The South Asian countries can grab the manufacturing industry of the East Asia banking on the low labour cost in the region,’ he said.
The sparkers at the seminar stressed on attracting more investment from the region and better connectivity among the countries.
They said that government and central banks in Asia should promote development of regional bond market in order to keep the regional savings in real sector investment as financial sector was under stress in some Asian countries.
They also said that there should less government interference and more governance in order to achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
-With New Age input
