speech by hon. ahsan iqbal, federal minister of pakistan at inauguration of 6th saes

7/30/2019 Speech by Hon. Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister of Pakistan at Inauguration of 6th SAES

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H.E. Prof. Ahsan Iqbals Keynote Address at the

Inaugural of 6th South Asia Economic Summit,

2-4th September 2013

Title of Keynote Address:

Towards a Stronger, Dynamic and Inclusive South Asia

Dear Excellences & _________

________________________________

I feel extremely privileged to be speaking here at the 6 th South Asia Economic Summitand extend my profound thanks to the Institute of Policy Studies in Sri Lanka andSustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Pakistan for inviting me as aKeynote Speaker. I would also like to acknowledge at the outset that forums such asthese have made a significant contribution in bringing together the eight SAARCmember states to jointly discuss, debate, and address emerging challenges in theeconomic and development domain.

It is very welcoming to take note of the key areas being covered in this Summit, The Big

Four as they have been termed. We believe that these areas are relevant to each of the

eight member states individually, and yet will also be extremely contributive in terms ofregional economic integration and cooperation. In fact the merger of track I and track IIdialogues in this Summit has great potential for bridging policy research gap across andwithin the region.

Ladies and gentlemen, today we stand at a point where South Asia collectively is lookingfor ways to revive and sustain economic growth, in a manner that is inclusive,sustainable and has the potential to remove inter country and intra country economicdisparities. While there are national solutions all of us experiment, there is a substantialopportunity we are all missing out. This is the currently stifled potential of regionaleconomic cooperation.

Having said it, let us acknowledge that we are in a constant struggle in prioritizingbetween urgent and important issues facing the region. While regional cooperation isimportant, many a times addressing urgent domestic issues becomes priority for all ofus. However, at regional level too, there are certain urgent and pressing developmentchallenges that South Asia faces today. It is important for us to give quality time andattention in deciding on the potential measures from the existing and emergingdevelopment discourse to address these challenges.

As a region, South Asia was able to buffer the immediate shocks of the global financial

crises and became one of the fastest growing regions over the last one decade. However,the social impact of these growth trends, particularly in terms of development


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indicators such as poverty headcount, income inequality, food insecurity, climate riskreduction, and female labour force participation, among others remains questionable.Today, there still remains immense poverty in the region, child undernourishment ishigh, conflict continues to be ripe, and there has been slow progress towards theachievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This distinction in the accruing benefits from the regions growth has not just beenprevalent within member states but also amongst them. This has given some countriesin the region a lead, while others continue to lag behind, consequently exacerbating theincidence of poverty as well as of income inequality across the region. Despiteachieving increasing growth rates, South Asian economies continue to ignore the basicnorms of sustainable production and consumption patterns, thus leading to a ShiningSouth Asia and a suffering South Asia. The sufferings gets further aggravated due to therestricted access to basic services in most, if not all, South Asian economies. Theseinequalities are not just confined to income levels, but have a wider social and human

rights connotation, including gender equality, and minority rights. Moreover, due tolower levels of literacy and even lesser exposure and access, demand-sideaccountability remains weak, leading to poor social service delivery and furtherexacerbating rent-seeking activities in the economy that carry negative long-termimplications. This has made the growth process in South Asia less inclusive.

The excluded one, when gets a collective identity be it creed, ethnic, national, or anyother identity immediately find a group or a country who is usurping their rights andthat is what leads to a conflict between have and have not at societal level, andtransboundry natural resources conflicts at the regional level. We can never overcomethe challenge of exclusion through a win-lose situation where victory of one group

would be at the cost of loss of the second group rather we have to adapt a win-winsituation. Everyone wins, when the growth would be treated as more of an all-roundedinclusive process in each of these countries. That is what the new developmentdiscourse dictates, and that is what has now become the need of the hour: treatinggrowth as a dimension of sustainable development that can extract masses frommisery.

I will now refer to some recent research by SDPI in Pakistan, an institute where I havethe honor of being on the Board of Governors since last two years. There are 3 keydevelopment challenges that this region collectively faces today: rebalancingmacroeconomic developments in favour of welfare impacts, thinking beyond MDGs,and working for a regional political stability to divert more resources on socialdevelopment. We should also take stock of some of the emerging mega-trends acrossthe region, which need to be treated with caution in order to capitalize fordevelopment across the region at large.

South Asia seems to have experienced enhanced individual empowerment that haslargely resulted from a rising middle-class, increased access to ICT, a vibrant civilsociety, and a relatively more independent media. One can attribute the anti-monarchmovement in Nepal, the independence of judiciary in Pakistan, and the Anna Hazareymovement in India to this individual empowerment that has led to popular mass

movements such as these.


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There is also higher incidence of urbanization in South Asia that continues to lead toincreased internal as well as external migration. Research shows that the increasedmigration flows have led to not only an increase in the flow of foreign remittances butalso in the transfer and diffusion of knowledge from advanced countries.

One also needs to take count of a reshuffling in the traditional power structures, such asexperienced in Bangladesh: the Grameen Bank, for one, influences millions of livesacross the country today. Similarly, in Pakistan the power centre has moved frommilitary to parliament, provincial governments, superior judiciary, and independentmedia. One observes similar examples in other countries in South Asia. There is also arise of popular culture across the region that has resulted, again from improved accessto ICT and higher literacy rates. South Asia as a whole continues to be vulnerable toadverse climate change effects that increases sea level, erode cultivable land, suppressreturns for farmers and exacerbate food insecurities in the region.

Having said that, it is important to qualify at this point that there are importantdimensions to South Asian regional development that need to be carefully borne to turnthe above mentioned trends in our favour. South Asian governments have lagged interms of investment in human capital that has exacerbated not just the poor state ofsocial service delivery but also the state of social justice across most South Asiancountries. Going forward, such exclusions carry the potential of rising conflicts acrossthese countries.

Secondly, the region continues to be extremely vulnerable to natural and human madedisasters, and there is less that has been done so far in terms of disaster managementand minimization of adverse after-effects. Thirdly, given their track record in governing

structures, South Asian nations have to be careful about how openness andtransparency facilitate favourable democracies that should be more inclusive and lessvulnerable to dictatorial tendencies within nations. The tendencies of conflict in SouthAsian economies continue to pose development challenges for the region. And finallythe region is thirsty for affordable and clean energy. Above mentioned trends and gamechangers would affect the development, whether regional or at the country-level in allSouth Asian economies.

My party Pakistan Muslim league (N) has a track record of open heartedly inviting allregional governments to work for collective solutions to turn some of the abovementioned game changers in our favour. We are a peace loving nation and quite mindfulof the fact that a stable Afghanistan is a must for a stable Pakistan, which in turn is amust for stable India, and the chain reaction goes on. Our stabilities are interdependentand this is what we need to understand in order to have a strong, resilient andprosperous South Asia which still has the potential to be hub of global growth in theyears to come.

Ladies and gentlemen, regional peace and resolving political differences throughnegotiations would let us divert scarce resource on building human capital. It wouldhelp us in implementing a regional disaster risk reduction strategy where upper andlower riverine countries would coordinate better and work together to avoid disasters

like floods and water scarcity. This would minimize the use of intra-regional hostilitiesin the domestic politics and in turn strengthen the democracies. On top of it, and


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inclusive and economically integrated South Asia is the answer to growing energyscarcity. We need to think of energy corridors within this region to meet each othersenergy needs. At macro level, such integration is a must to cope with negative impactsof financial crisis and recession which is hitting our traditional trade partners, Europeand the USA,

Besides fostering peace in the region, we also need to think of new ways of makingSAARC an effective forum. We did agree on SAARC Development Goals. However, thefate of SDG was not much different than MDGs. We often say that lack of politicalownership of MDGs in member states led to slow progress on achieving them. However,SDGs were our indigenous and home grown solutions, yet due to our lack of cooperationwe failed more than 70 percent of South Asians who live below $2/- a day.

We need to learn lessons from the fate of MDGs and SDGs and make collaborative effortsto meaningfully implemet some of the agreed decisions such as SAARC DevelopmentFund, SAARC Food Bank and SAARC disaster reduction strategy.

Given the South Asian context, governments need to take a more rigorous approach indeveloping social capital and expanding the resultant knowledge base. This would notonly flourish democratic norms in these countries but also significantly contributetowards long-term and inclusive economic growth. There is also a persistent need forinvesting in and promoting social innovations, such as modern tools in socialaccountability and micro-financing. Forums such as the South Asia Economic Summitprovide an excellent platform for such purposes.

One should also not discount the role of the private sector, in so far as growth is

concerned. While the private sector is pivotal in accelerating growth and should beallowed to take lead in doing so, it is time for governments to reassess their own role soas to balance spending in favour of human development. With well thought-out policies,economic growth resulting from increased private sector led activity can generate fiscalspace for development spending.

These common challenges and trends across South Asia call for a renewed resolve onpart of SAARC member states to get their own economies in order, while committingcollectively to address regional issues for common good. There is need for a morerobust role of the SAARC Secretariat in order to strengthen efforts to address thesechallenges at the regional level. We hope that going forward, member states will take amore responsible and proactive approach towards regional cooperation that facilitatessustainable and inclusive growth for the common good of the region at large.

Having talked about South Asia as a whole, I would now like to take this opportunity tobrief you about Pakistans own role as a country, as envisioned by the currentgovernment. Our vision is to make strengthen human capital in Pakistan and turn it aknowledge-based economy which would steer its agriculture, industry and services bythe year 2025, appropriately titled as Vision 2025. To achieve this, our policy focuswould aim at: exploring indigenous resources strengthen human capital, and facilitatingprivate sector as engines of growth; an efficient, competent and accountable public

sector; adoption of global practices for corporate governance; and working for aninclusive growth that is sustained by macroeconomic stability, and maintenance of


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political stability and peace in the country.

The vision 2025 aims to provide citizens of Pakistan with a higher standard of livingthat is compatible with that of contemporary emerging economies. We have set a target

of an average annual growth rate of 7 to 8 percent till 2025 by bringing about structuralchanges that can help yield higher productivity in all sectors of the economy.

Moreover, the vision intends to build and further enhance institutional capacities,besides establishing a lead for the private sector as drivers of growth. And yet, the socialcomponent has been given just as much importance through provision of energy, foodand water security for the citizens of Pakistan.

The vision resides on key economic pillars to achieve its expected outcomes. Theseinclude: energy security, sustained and inclusive higher growth led by the private

sector, modernization of existing infrastructure, increased competitiveness in industryand trade, inclusive tax, institutional, and governance reforms, and building of socialcapital that can help in getting the most out of the tremendous demographic dividendthat the country has from its huge youth population. If achieved, these measures wouldreap multi-fold and economy-wide benefits. Collectively, they can help inflate the size ofthe economy from the current Rs. 22.9 trillion to an impressive Rs. 130 trillion by theyear 2025. This would in turn imply an increase of per capita income to $5000, a higherinvestment to GDP ratio, higher national savings, higher exports for the country, higherremittance flows, better infrastructure and balancing of growth towards local resourcesrather than external inflows.

I am joining this summit to request the luminaries, excellencys, private sector,academia, and think-tank community present at this venue to come up with a SouthAsian Vision 2025, 2050, or 2075 whatever milestone you choose. My belief is that onlya vision of a region where the gap between the haves and have-not could be narrowed,where there is a sense of shared destination, a common resolve to opportunity andfairness, and where we deliver on securing economic, social, cultural and political rights,can help us in achieving an inclusive economic growth, a growth which would be muchhigher than what we can achieve if our region remains divided.

I expect that this Summit will bring out key policy messages that can substantially help

in bringing together SAARC member states to harness and implement progressive ideasfor regional integration and cooperation. The South Asia Economic Summit has had ahistory of brining policy makers and implementers to a singular platform to discusspolicy issues for South Asian regional cooperation. It is time that the 6th Summit,beginning today, plays a historic and pivotal role in implementation of policyrecommendations presented in earlier Summits and those that will come of this one.These policy recommendations ought to be more realistic for all member states toadopt, and today, there is need to actualize the demand that this forum generates fromregional Track 1, Track 2, and Track 3 partners. I would also like to restate andemphasize the responsibility that each of the member states has to take individually on

its own and this is what the message of this Summit offers: to take your own charge andyet contribute for regional cooperation in issues of mutual concern and interest.


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I hope that this Summit will go a long way in not only creating demand-driven agendasfor South Asian regional cooperation but also in implementing these agendas. I sincerelyhope that the 6th South Asia Economic Summit, with all its objectives, will bring thesenations together and strengthen their collective resolve. My individual and official

support is with you for this regional cause.

Thank you!

speech by hon. ahsan iqbal, federal minister of pakistan at inauguration of 6th saes

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