South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation

Post-workshop Statement

The Second Meeting of the Transport Working Group under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation program SASEC was held in Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu, Nepal on 12-13 March 2002.

The meeting was jointly chaired by Mr. D.C. Pyakural, Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, His Majesty's Government of Nepal, and Mr. Tadashi Kondo, Director, South Asia Infrastructure Division, ADB. Participating countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan and India.

The Working Group adopted a Joint Summary Note of the meeting setting out the future directions of ensuing TA activities. Priority area for the Phase II TA activities would be the improvement of existing corridors, those already included in the current bilateral transit agreements, protocols or other similar arrangements.

Additional areas for action would be the development of electronic data interchange (EDI) with increased compatibility among SASEC countries. Most participating countries have begun to develop an EDI system with little coordination among them. A more consistent system needs to be developed under the future activities.

The Meeting concluded on a note that any improvement of sub-regional system should originate from the initiative by the participating countries. ADB is willing to play the role of catalyst by facilitating the dialogue among them and also through providing necessary technical assistance and extending loans to the priority projects.