Private Sector Forum on South Asian Subregional Economic Cooperation

South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation
First Private Sector Forum

28 - 29 November 2000, Kolkata, India

The First Private Sector Forum on South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) was held in Kolkata, India on 28-29 November 2000. The Forum marked a major breakthrough in the efforts to promote subregional cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world. The Forum stressed the important role that the private sector can play in such an effort, particularly in bringing cross-border investments that would create jobs, fuel economic growth and reduce poverty in the region. It emphasized the need to develop sector frameworks that create an environment for public-private sector partnerships in subregional projects. The ADB has responded to this challenge by supporting an ongoing technical assistance project that will identify and prioritize subregional projects in South Asia in five priority sectors, i.e., transportation, energy and power, tourism, environment, trade and investment, and private sector cooperation.

Read Keynote Speech of Mr. Yoshihiro Iwasaki, Director for Programs Department (West), ADB
Review Forum papers
Read ADB's Press Statement

ADB is sponsoring and participating in the first Private Sector Forum on South Asia Subregional Cooperation in Calcutta, India, from 28-29 November, 2000.

This event brings together public and private sector representatives as a step towards identifying an investment program to develop what has been dubbed the South Asia Growth Quadrangle,(SAGQ) consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.

It is being organized by the Chambers of Commerce from this subregion. The SAGQ is of special interest to ADB as it is estimated that over half of Asia's 900 million people subsisting below the poverty line live in the SAGQ countries.

ADB believes this challenge is also an opportunity. The subregion offers a huge force of hard working and disciplined workers at relatively low wages. SAGQ is rich in natural resources. These include the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basins, one of the largest graineries of the world. With investments to improve agricultural productivity, and efficient water management, this grainery could feed the subregional work force at reasonable prices.

Other resources include

the hydropower potential in Nepal and Bhutan,
the coal resources of West Bengal and Bihar, and
the hydrocarbon reserves in Bangladesh, Assam and Tripura
large non-energy mineral deposits, forest resources, livestock and marine resources and a network of ports in Chittagong, Mongla, Calcutta, and Haldia

The subregion has all the ingredients for dynamic economic growth.

Broadly, a development vision for the subregion could include:

an economic corridor around the Bay of Bengal, linking ports from Chittagong to Dhaka, Mongla, Calcutta, and Haldia.
a transport grid of east-west railroads and highways linking the eastern Indian hill states with West Bengal through Bangladesh, as well as north-south transport corridors linking Nepal, Bhutan, and the hill states of eastern India to ports on the Bay of Bengal.

This grid would be connected to the rest of India at Calcutta through India's top priority Golden Quadrilateral project of superhighways joining Delhi, Bombay, Chennai, and Calcutta. Similar grids could be developed for power, hydrocarbons, and telecommunications.

The Calcutta forum aims to begin translating these broad concepts into specific, bankable, investment projects. ADB will urge Governments and private sector representatives to prepare a regional development masterplan to identify specific projects in different sectors, and prioritize them for financing.

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