The second session on Day 3, “Can South Asia be a power bloc?” took a hard look at the region’s realities. The session featured Victor Mallet, South Asia bureau chief for the Financial Times, and Zafar Sobhan, editor of The Dhaka Tribune. This session was moderated by Ashikur Rahman, Senior Economist at the Policy Research Institute.
The moderator opened the session by sharing his experiences in South Asia. Mallet then took up the thread with a comparison between how the European Union works as a bloc as compared to the South Asian bloc. He talked about how the countries in this region can improve their communications and trade relations with one another. He is of the opinion that the Asian highway, which is currently under construction is a step towards this harmony, and it now needs political integration. In this regard, Victor said: “The whole process of integration has barely begun in South Asia, and clearly a political integration will be a very, very long way down the road. So, I think the first thing to look at is how far you can go with trade integration, which will clearly be beneficial for all the countries in this region.”
Sobhan’s contention to the picture painted by Mallet was the undeniable dominance of India. Furthermore the complicated relations between the two economic giants--India and Pakistan--would prove a big obstacle to forming a South Asian bloc, although Sobhan agreed that there exists a political will for integration. “Modi had a very much doubted, celebrated trip to Bangladesh. Bangladeshis expected to get a great deal from the trip, and then I think they felt that Modi and India got everything, and they were left with very little,” he added.
Fasih Ahmed, editor of Newsweek Pakistan, was initially slated to be part of this session, but was unable to attend at the last moment because he was denied a visa by the Bangladeshi consulate in Pakistan. Mallet used this fact to press home his point about the need to improve regional communications to gradually eliminate the red tape involving visas, at least within SAARC nations. Sobhan believed it was important to foster positive relations, not just between governments, but also within the general populace.
The session concluded on the note that there was a real need for a South Asian bloc, but it might be a while until that becomes a reality.
