South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE)
and Oxfam organized a two-day regional meeting on “Regional cooperation on
trade, climate change and food security in South Asia: Reflections and way
forward”.The overall objective of the
workshop was to discuss issues on trade, climate change and food security relevant
to South Asia based on the experience and outcomes of studies conducted by
SAWTEE. The workshop focused on building a common understanding and strategy
for mutual cooperation in South Asia on trade, climate change and food
security.
Stakeholders from five different South Asian countries
underlined the need for regional cooperation to expedite trade, address climate
change concerns and overcome food insecurity during the consultation.
A total of 54 participants representing governments, civil society,
private sector, academia, development partners and the media participated in
the consultation.
Starting the deliberations of the workshop, Dr. Hiramani
Ghimire, Executive Director, SAWTEE provided a brief overview of the workshop.
He stated that the workshop will touch upon, among others, developments in the
10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the 21st
Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) and the recently adopted
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Chairing the opening session, Dr. Pushpa Raj Rajkarnikar,
Chairman, Institute for Policy Research and Development (IPRAD) stressed the
need to explore ways to ensure that South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC), as a regional bloc, can serve the common goal of deepening
regional cooperation in South Asia. He called for a common South Asian agenda
in multilateral forums like the WTO. Speaking in the session, Ms. L. Savithri,
Director, SAARC Secretariat urged South Asian countries to come together for
greater regional integration in South Asia and stressed the need for putting
aside political issues.
Presenting the outcome of the 10th WTO Ministerial in Nairobi,
Dr. Posh Raj Pandey, Chairman, SAWTEE highlighted some of the major
expectations of South Asian countries for the Nairobi Ministerial, particularly
in agriculture, services, rules of origin (RoO), and other implementation
related issues and concerns. Subsequently, he presented some of the major
achievements made in the 10th WTO Ministerial, which included the commitment to
abolish subsidies for farm exports, preferential RoO for Least Developed
Countries (LDCs), and implementation of preferential treatment in favour of
services and service suppliers of LDCs, among others. But despite such achievements,
Dr. Pandey argued that the Ministerial, which was largely characterized by the
dearth of Doha Development Agenda, and proliferation of mega regional groups
and plurilateral agreements, failed to meet the expectation of South Asian
countries. Thus, he suggested that South Asian countries should further deepen
South Asian cooperation and work together with other developing countries to
revive the Doha Development Agenda.
In the next session “Overcoming hunger in South Asia: Case of
South Asian Food Supply Chain,” Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, Former
Vice-chairman, National Planning Commission (NPC), Government of Nepal (GoN) highlighted the need for increasing
agricultural productivity with the use of appropriate technologies for
overcoming huger in South Asia. Similarly, in the session “Agriculture
investment in South Asia: Trends, opportunities and challenges,” Dr. Hari Krishna
Upadhyaya, Former Member, NPC stressed the need for increased investments in
agriculture sector in South Asian countries.
The next day, consultation started with the session on “Reducing
Non-Tariff Barriers in Trade: Case of South Asian Agriculture”. During his
presentation, Mr. Purushottam Ojha, Former Secretary of Commerce and Supplies,
GoN made a presentation where he highlighted the growing proliferation of
various non-tariff barriers in South Asian countries which are coming up as threat
to their development. Mr. Toya Narayan Gyawali, Joint Secretary, GoN said that
there should be a meaningful initiation at SAARC level to minimize non-tariff
barriers. He also highlighted the need for harmonization of standards among the
SAARC countries to facilitate free flow of goods, including in agriculture
sector.
In the next session, “Sustainable Development Goals: Need for
mutual cooperation in South Asia”, Dr. Swarnim Wagle, Former Member, NPC said
that South Asia still faces challenges in meeting the goals set by the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). He also highlighted that there is a need to achieve
MDG targets in several fronts, and concurrently there is a need to incorporate
newly adopted SDGs into the national development plans in South Asian countries.
In the last technical session “Climate governance in South Asia: COP 21 and
beyond”, Dr. Hiramani Ghimire, Executive Director, SAWTEE highlighted the need
for a proper international and national climate governance for mitigation and
adaption of climate change, including in South Asia.
During the closing session, participants discussed the potential
areas of cooperation in South Asia. They highlighted the need to strengthen
networking and partnership with South Asian governments for wider collaboration
towards the creation of coherence among trade, climate and food security
policies. They also identified common areas in trade, climate change and food
security for future collaboration, including to assist the implementation of
the SDGs.
The
outcome of the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference: Need for more regional cooperation in South
Asia?
Presentation:
Dr. Posh Raj Pandey, Chairman, SAWTEE
Overcoming
hunger in South Asia: Case of South Asian Food Supply Chain
Presentation:
Dr. Amita Batra, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Agriculture
investment in South Asia: Trends, opportunities and challenges
Presentation:
Dr. Krishna P. Pant, Fellow, South Asian Network for Development and
Environmental Economics (SANDEE), Lalitpur
Reducing
Non-Tariff Barriers in Trade: Case of South Asian Agriculture Trade
Presentation:
Mr.
Purushottam Ojha, Former Secretary of Commerce and Supplies, GoN
Sustainable
Development Goals: Need for mutual cooperation in South Asia
Presentation:
Dr.
Swarnim Wagle, Former Member, NPC
Climate
governance in South Asia: COP 21 and beyond
Presentation:
Dr. Hiramani Ghimire, Executive Director, SAWTEE
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