Business chambers pinning high hopes on Dhaka Summit
By Asad Cheema

ISLAMABAD—India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce, all three business chambers of twin cities are hoping that the SAARC summit will bring dividends to the region.
Apart from businessmen, one and a half billion South Asians are pinning their hopes on Dhaka for business, trade and investment to grow; aprocess that will also ensure pace and stability in the region.
Summit may help increase understanding trade between SAARC countries which will eventually increase trade and bring prosperity to the region, said co-president of the India-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ilyas Ahmed Bilour.
Bilour who has served as president Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a long time supporter of free trade with every country including India.
Our hopes are linked to the leaders who should enhance economic cooperation and regional trade through South Asia Free Trade Agreement and it must be launched on January 1, 2006, as planned, said Jalil Ahmed Malik president Rawalpindi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).
SAARC ministers and SAFTA’S trouble shooting Committee of Experts (CoEs) should develop consensus on several key issues and a settlement in Dhakais what we demand, said Senior Vice President RCCI Syed Mushtaq Ali Shah.
Economic growth and business alone are not at stake. Focussed to this cooperation are hopes that it will bring stability to the region, and free its people from wars and tensions that have persisted for more than half a century, opined Senior Vice President of Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Malik Sohail.
South Asia is moving to boost regional trade by emulating the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union. Trade among Asean nations accounts for 60 percent of their trade and intra-EU trade accounts for two-thirds of the trade of the 25 EU members. Trade among South Asian countries is barely 5 percent of the region’s total, said president Rawalpindi Islamabad Women Chambers of Commerce and Industry (RIWCCI) Samina Fazil.
I sincerely SAFTA comes into force as it will represent beginning of a regional economic union which will bail out poor out of the fix, she added.
RIWCCI vice president Shagufta Zahid said that South Asia’s quest for economic cooperation has been frustrated by political rivalry. “If we wish to be a part of the economic progress, we must act and act speedilywithout any loss of time.’’
“Improvement in political atmosphere in South Asia has had a positive impact. The momentum thus generated should be sustained. We must join the Asian mainstream of economic growth and prosperity.”