#WEF2017: South Asian economies can revive global demand

Police on guard next to the Congress Centre during the 47th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Picture: AP

Police on guard next to the Congress Centre during the 47th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Picture: AP

Published Jan 18, 2017

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Davos - A vast workforce, strong growth and expanding purchasing power could see South Asia play a key role in reviving global demand. This was according to Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry of India, at a session on Harnessing Regional Cooperation in South Asia at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

"The world cannot afford to ignore the region that will be key to reviving demand," the minister said.

Despite the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) annual summit being cancelled in 2016 because of a terrorist incident in India, Sitharaman said it was important to remember that the South Asian Free Trade Agreement was still going strong and had achieved major gains in intra-regional trade in the past few decades.

She cited border haats, or markets, on the India-Bangladesh border and the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway as other examples of increasing regional integration.

Read also:  Top 8 #WEF2017 issues as SA heads to Davos

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh added that the India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal motor vehicles agreement signed two years ago was another sign of closer ties within South Asia.

She said better connectivity of this kind would be an indispensable part of any strategy aimed at bringing nations and people together.

With 1.8 billion people, a 7 percent gross domestic growth rate and 25 percent of the world's middle class, South Asia offered trade and commerce that could improve people's quality of life, while also keeping the peace in a volatile region, the panellists agreed. 

AFRICAN NEWS AGENCIES

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