A renewed political commitment to regional cooperation must be a priority for South Asia

While the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated powerful trends towards de-globalization, looking inwards by abandoning regional cooperation is not a solution for the South Asian countries and an improved connectivity and cooperation through renewed political commitment to regional and sub-regional initiatives can benefit the region and engender the much needed reforms in multilateralism and globalization, according to the experts in a virtual meeting organized by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) in association with Biruni Institute, Afghanistan, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), India, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan and Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), Colombo.