Final Regional Cooperation for Inclusive and Sustainable Development

207 Pages·2012·5.82 MB·English

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
South and South-West Asia remains one of the fastest growing subregions in the
South and South-West Asia Office
world even though its economic growth has slowed down in 2012 due to a
deteriorating global economic environment. Although the subregion continues
to push the world's economic centre of gravity to the East, as India is on track to
become the world's second largest economy by 2050, it faces many challenges to
making the development process more inclusive and sustainable. These include
widespread poverty and hunger, poor levels of human development, wide
infrastructure gaps, food and energy insecurity and the threat of natural disasters.
In addition, the subregion's least developed and landlocked developing
Regional Cooperation
countries face unusual obstacles. S
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The South and South-West Asia Development Report argues that regional for Inclusive and
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cooperation can help solve many of the subregion's challenges and help secure a

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more sustainable future. In the decade ahead, the subregion's member States
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have a chance to cooperate amongst themselves to ensure that their dynamism d
and development success are sustained, and that the subregion re-emerges as the
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hub of East–West trade that it once was. o
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As a development partner of South and South-West Asia, now with a new Office h
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dedicated to the subregion, ESCAP in this Report highlights elements of a regional W
Development Report 2012–13
policy agenda for harnessing the potential of cooperation in select areas. e
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The South and South-West Asia Development Report will be an essential resource for
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policymakers, development professionals, economists, as well as those concerned s
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with development in South and South-West Asia and beyond.

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For sale in South Asia only
Printed in New Delhi C-2 Qutab Institutional Area,
ST/ESCAP/2644 New Delhi 110 016, India
October 2012 http://sswa.unescap.org
ESCAP is the regional development arm of the United Nations and serves as the main economic and
social development centre for the United Nations in Asia and the Pacific. Its mandate is to foster
cooperation between its 53 members and 9 associate members. ESCAP provides the strategic link
between global and country-level programmes and issues. It supports governments of countries in
the region in consolidating regional positions and advocates regional approaches to meeting the
region’s unique socio-economic challenges in a globalizing world. The ESCAP office is located in
Bangkok, Thailand. Please visit the ESCAP website at www.unescap.org for further information.
The darker areas of the map represent the members and associate members of ESCAP.
Regional Cooperation for Inclusive and
Sustainable Development

Regional Cooperation for Inclusive and
Sustainable Development
South and South-West Asia Development
Report 2012–13
LonDon neW YoRk neW DeLhi
First published in october 2012 in association with United nations
for United nations economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, South and South-West Asia office
by Routledge
912 Tolstoy house, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place, new Delhi 110 001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012
United nations economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, South and South-West Asia office
For sale in South and South-West-Asia only (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, india, islamic Republic of iran, Maldives,
nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey).
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storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
iSBn: 978-0-415-82774-4
Un Publications number: ST/eSCAP/2644
Foreword
South and South-West Asia has made large development gains over the past decade, yet
remains home to the world’s largest concentration of poor and hungry people, and lags
behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Slowing growth in the subregion,
and uncertain prospects in developed countries, are exposing the subregion’s structural
challenges. Amongst these are the need for more inclusive development, closing wide
infrastructure gaps, strengthening food and energy security, diversifying and moving
up the value chain in industrial and export structures, and reducing the risks and costs of disasters. in
addition, the least developed countries and landlocked developing countries of the subregion face special
challenges closing their development gaps and promoting inclusive growth.
Regional cooperation in South and South-West Asia can be an important strategy to address many
of these challenges, and to ensure the sustainable future of the subregion as a whole. Cooperation can
help spur more inclusive growth and drive the elimination of poverty in the subregion. Greater regional
integration not only increases intraregional trade, but also promotes investment in the subregion’s
supply chain and production networks. This creates more and better jobs and builds productive capacity,
particularly in the subregion’s least developed countries. Greater intraregional cooperation can also
improve food and energy security, as well as help reduce disaster risk.
Through a focus on inclusive growth and regional cooperation, South and South-West Asia can harness
its many advantages, including its youth bulge, to grow, within a generation, into the world’s largest centre
of consumption — driving global growth and filling the global skills deficit, if the path from education
to employment is facilitated, and if better quality, decent work opportunities can be generated by the
subregion’s growth. Finally, better connectivity, across the subregion and beyond, can help leverage the
subregion’s strategic location at the crossroads of Asia and the Pacific to re-emerge as the hub of east–
West trade that it once was.
South and South-West Asia Development Report presents an analysis of the development challenges
facing the subregion and the ways to turn them into opportunities. it presents a policy agenda for the
subregion to emerge as an economic powerhouse and as a model of inclusive and sustainable development.
helping South and South-West Asia sustain this dynamism to meet the development challenges facing the
subregion is a crucial endeavour, and is a priority for eSCAP. As a development partner of the subregion,
now with a new office dedicated to it, eSCAP stands ready to assist its member States implement this
agenda.
i am happy to commend this Report, the first major publication of eSCAP’s South and South-West Asia
office to the policymakers and development community at large in the region.
Dr. Noeleen Heyzer
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and
Executive Secretary of the Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Preface
The South and South-West Asia office of the economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific was established in December 2011 in new Delhi to serve 10 eSCAP member States:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the islamic Republic of iran, india, Maldives, nepal, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Turkey. Guided by the eSCAP programme of work, the eSCAP South and South-
West Asia office focuses on closing development gaps, fostering inclusive development,
assisting the subregion’s least developed and landlocked developing countries, as well as
strengthening connectivity, transit and trade facilitation, for enhancing regional economic integration. The
office also focuses on regional cooperation for food and energy security, and disaster risk reduction in the
subregion.
As a part of its work, eSCAP-SSWA has organized regular policy dialogues in the subregion, including the
inaugural high-level Policy Dialogue on Development Challenges Facing the Subregion in December 2011, the
high-level South Asian Forum on Accelerating Achievement on the Millennium Development Goals in February
2012, Policy Dialogue on Global economic Turmoil and Asia-Pacific’s economic Prospects: implications for nepal,
organized in kathmandu in July 2012 and the expert Group Meeting on Regional Cooperation and inclusive
Development, held in new Delhi in July 2012. eSCAP-SSWA also supported the organization of the Fifth South
Asia economic Summit in islamabad in September 2012 by hosting a couple of sessions. in addition, the eSCAP-
SSWA has also begun offering capacity-building support to the least developed countries of the subregion, the
first of which was a technical capacity-building session on Afghanistan’s World Trade organization Accession
held for representatives of the Government of Afghanistan and the private sector in August 2012.
eSCAP-SSWA has also initiated a number of knowledge products designed to stimulate discussion among
policymakers and analysts in the subregion. These include a monthly newsletter Development Monitor, a
Development Paper series, and a Policy Brief series which are all disseminated online through the office’s
webpage, http://sswa.unescap.org.
The South and South-West Asia Development Report 2012–13 is the first in a series of biennial reports. Designed
as resource for development specialists across South and South-West Asia, the Report presents contemporary
thinking and new analysis on select critical development challenges the subregion faces included in the
programme of work of eSCAP-SSWA. The Report will be used for policy advocacy purposes across the subregion
over the next two years especially in relation to some of the proposals included herein.
The Report draws upon the work undertaken by eSCAP-SSWA but also at the eSCAP headquarters in Bangkok
as well as within the development community at large. i am grateful to the resource persons and experts
listed elsewhere for their contributions and continuous support. We also look forward to benefiting from their
feedback on the Report.
i take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr. noeleen heyzer, United nations Under-Secretary-
General and executive Secretary of eSCAP, who has provided visionary leadership and guidance for our work. i
would also like to thank Mr. Shun-ichi Murata, Deputy executive Secretary of eSCAP for his support and his keen
interest in the work of eSCAP-SSWA.
i wish to thank members of the Report team as well for their committed work to produce this Report within
a limited time frame.
i would also like to thank orestes Plasencia of the eSCAP editorial Unit, Valentina kalk and Rosa Maria ndolo
of the United nations Publications, new York and the Routledge team at new Delhi for their support during the
publication process.
Nagesh Kumar
Director, ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office
and ESCAP Chief Economist