Regional economic cooperation in Asia : Bangladesh, India,Pakistan and Srilanka / by Charan D. Wadhva ...[et al]

One important element in the quest for a New International Economic Order being formulated under the aegis of UNCTAD is promotion of collective self-reliance among the developing countries, or what is known as "South-South Economic Cooperation". The studies in this volume constitute a pilot effort by a group of Asian scholars in exploring "South-South Cooperation" by analysing the nature and potential of regional and sub-regional cooperation in trade and joint ventures in Asia. In addition to the Overview contributed by the project coordinator, this survey includes country studies on Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The objective of these studies is to assess the current state of economic cooperation and to identify some new areas for cooperation based on trade and investment in joint ventures and to some extent services between and among the developing countries of the ESCAP region with special focus on the countries of three sub-regions, namely, South Asia, now loosely cooperating under the name of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC); Southeast Asia including the countries belonging to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN); and the Asian Newly Industrialising Countries (NICs). The recent slowdown in the growth of the developed countries of the world has added to the relevance of South-South cooperation for the developing countries.

The studies in this volume have been jointly sponsored by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (New Delhi, India) and the Marga Institute (Colombo, Sri Lanka). The portion dealing with the South Asia-ASEAN sub-regional economic cooperation has also been co-sponsored by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.

This volume should prove to be useful to the academic researchers as well as policy makers in the concerned countries and regional and international organisations. It should also be of some interest to the business organisations interested in this region.