Commerce minister Faruk Khan on Tuesday held the bureaucratic tangle responsible for the snags in the way of removing all sorts of tariff, non-tariff and other barriers to boosting trade in the region.
Nexus between bureaucrats and politicians is indispensable in the interest of the people, he said urging the bureaucrats to take a fresh vow to work for the common regional interests.
'Either bureaucrats in the region are inefficient or politicians have failed to give correct directives to prepare a list of regional trade barriers and remedies for the economic development. That should be our agenda in the region,' Faruk added.
He was inaugurating a daylong regional meeting on 'Economic Non-Cooperation to Consumers in South Asia' as chief guest at BRAC Inn in the city.
Prime minister's international affairs adviser Gowher Rizvi, who spoke at the meeting as the special guest, pointed out that poor infrastructure, state of transport and related services and tense political relations between SAARC states were slowing down the economic integration process in the region.
Institute for Policy Advocacy and Governance, Bangladesh arranged the seminar in cooperation with Consumer Unity and Trust Society of India.
Syed Munir Khasru of Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University and country representative of the Asia Foundation, Bangladesh M Mazumdar and research coordinator of CUTS Geveva Resource Centre Rashid S Kaukab also spoke on the occasion.
Faruk said increasing the trade tie with South Asian countries means creating a competitive business environment in the region leading to higher standards of living, new investment opportunities, infrastructure development, access to quality products and highly paid jobs.
Source : New Age
