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The two-day South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) seminar-cum-buyer seller meet was inaugurated by the West Bengal minister-in-charge for industry, Bidyut Ganguly, here yesterday.

Nearly 50 foreign delegates from the Saarc member countries and 250 Indian delegates are attending the meet "Saarc-Partners in Progress in the Next Millennium" organised by the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC).

In his inaugural address, the industry minister said the Saarc states should have purposeful dialogue and move towards a mutually beneficial trading environment.

EEPC chairman P K Shah said, most of the developed countries were moving towards consolidating their respective global trade blocs at the cost of the developing countries. The need to form an effective trade block in the Saarc region was essential, he said.

 

Shyamal Ghosh, secretary, Ministry of Textiles, echoed Shah's views, saying, that at a time when preferential trade has become a rule of the day, Saarc nations should move towards a larger Indian Ocean rim trading concept. This would help optimise factor endowments in the region and help us to go to other countries with more competitive products. "We must take advantage of the global information technology revolution and get into a networked world. There is tremendous advantage if we (Saarc members) perceive each other's needs," Ghosh said. He also suggested the idea of `weaning off' markets by which Saarc members can enter into agreements to cater to each other's requirements through regional trade.

Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), president, Sudhir Jalan, said, "If the seven members of the Association got together, the whole region will be the envy of the world. For this, there is a need to overcome some of the psychological barriers first." TITLE>