Under the theme ‘Towards South Asian Economic Union,’ the 7th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES VII) has kicked off on 5 November 2014 in New Delhi.
Launched in 2008, the SAES is the premier regional platform for dialogue and debate on socio-economic issues facing South Asia. Each year, the Summit tackles critical issues, develops new insights and generates ideas on policy priorities for consideration of the subregion’s decision makers.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) is one of the SAES VII core partners. The summit this year was hosted by the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi based autonomous think-tank under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
Professor Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, CPD spearheaded the participating CPD high-level team, comprised of Mr M Syeduzzaman, Member of CPD Board of Trustees, Executive Director Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellows Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya and Dr Rounaq Jahan, Research Director Dr Fahmida Khatun and Additional Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem and Research Fellow Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan.
In his Special Address during the inauguration, Professor Sobhan drew on political changes across the SAARC region and its relevance to the rapid economic growth throughout Asia, according to a livemint report published on 6 November.
Meanwhile on 6 November, Dr Khatun has been a panellist at the parallel session on “Macroeconomic performance, prospects and policy coordination,” while Mr Syeduzzaman chaired the session on “Financial and monetary cooperation.” Dr Moazzem has joined the list of panellists at the Plenary Session 3 on “South Asia Connectivity: Regional Agenda for South Asia Economic Union” [with Special Reference to Economic Corridor and Border Trade] and the Parallel Session on “Financial and monetary cooperation.”
On 7 November, Dr Bhattacharya delivered the lead presentation at the Plenary Session 7 on “Post-2015 Agenda: South Asian Perspectives” while Professor Rahman, as a panellist, joined the “Plenary Session 6 on Regional Cooperation for Food Security in South Asia.” Professor Rahman also extended concluding remarks at Plenary Session 8 on “Summary, Conclusions and Way Forward,” co-chaired by Professor Sobhan.
Agenda (as of 4 November)
The event was broadcast live on the RIS website
5 November 2014 (Wednesday): 3:00 PM - 6:30 PM (IST)
6 November 2014 (Thursday): 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM (IST)
7 November 2014 (Friday): 9:00 AM -5:45 PM (IST)
