South Asia needs to exploit vast resources

Having a huge potential and vast resources for economic prosperity, the South Asian region lags behind other regions in prosperity.
"Geographic advantages of contiguity, proximity and familiarity, regional cooperation and integration, full liberalisation and economic integration have not taken off because of 'the burden of history' in the region," said Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) president Kush Kumer Joshi during the inauguration session of the first SAARC Chambers of Commerce and Industry (SAARC-CCI) Young Entrepreneurs Forum conference here in the Valley today.
The last SAARC summit in Thimpu has declared 2010-2020 'the Decade of intra-regional connectivity in SAARC' to further boost the intra-regional trade, he said, adding that the region needs to find ways and means to collectively exploit the resources in all forms to make not just the business but also the individuals and economies competitive globally.
"Without the collective approach competing single-handedly with the world at large will be extremely difficult," Joshi added.
The Young Entrepreneurs Forum conference -- organised by SAARC-CCI in collaboration with FNCCI and Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs Forum and supported by Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung fuer die Freiheit Regional office, New Delhi -- is expected to complement the efforts of SAARC-CCI to promote economic cooperation and integration of SAARC into global economy, and chart out ways to tackle challenges in boosting the intra-regional trade.
The intra-regional trade in the SAARC region has reached 5.5 per cent in 2008 from 3.2 per cent in the 1980, accordng to data. The intra-regional trade is very minimal compared to other regional blocks like ASEAN, COMESA and EU.
According to a study of UNDP, the South Asian youth entrepreneurs have to face more challenges compared to their counterparts in the world. "lack of skill manpower, financial resources, management skill and low profit rate, unfriendly government policies are some of the challenges that the youth of this region have to face," the study said.
"The SAARC Young Entrepreneurs Forum -- a strategic partner of the SAARC-CCI -- will help groom the region's young entrepreneurs to fight with the anamolies and be the global entrepreneurs," said SAARC-CCI secretary general Iqbal Tabish.
Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung fuer die Freiheit Regional office director Subodh Kumar, SAARC Young Entrepreneurs Forum chairperson Shahrukh Malik, Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs Forum president Anuj Kumar Shrestha and SAARC-CCI vice-president Pradeep Kumar Shrestha also spoke about the role of youth, investment promotion and the intra-reginal trade on the occasion.
Two working papers -- Youth Entrepreneurship in South Asia:Experience Sharing and Importance of Youth Entrepreneurship in South Asia -- were also presented during the conference, where the participants from all the SAARC except Bhutan and Afghanistan took part.
The SAARC Young Entrepreneurs Forum was formed last year to share the ideas among the youth of the region and bring together the likeminded young entrepreneurs into one platform and work collectively for the socio-economic development of the country.
Similarly, the South Asian region is home to 15.3 million unemployed youth by the end of 2009, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) data making it the highest among the other regions in unemployment.