One of the important aspects of the recently concluded SAARC Summit in Islamabad has been the call made by all the seven leaders for more economic cooperation among member states. The enthusiasm to see SAFTA and SAPTA function effectively was highlighted and few opinions were also spelt mentioning that economic cooperation could foster political stability in the region in the longer run. Prime Minister Vajpayee’s call for increasing trade and commerce among member nations is laudable; at present, officially, there’s only $6 billion trade generated, which is far below potential. More economic activity among the SAARC nations has been emphasised over the the last few summits. However, little progress has been made due to the prevailing political situation, mistrust and the overarching gamut of terrorism. In the last couple of years, the need for economic involvement is being realised more than ever before. Apart from agricultural and trading activities, new areas are being considered. India’s emergence as a strong, globally resilient economy and its predominance in the fast growing knowledge industry is being closely watched by its neighbours. Particularly the growth of India’s software exports, which was US$ 9.5 billion in 2002-03, and is expected to grow at a rate of around 28 per cent for this year. Many of the SAARC nations want to have the Indian ICT revolution replicated in their own countries. According to them, their geographical size, along with quality human resources, placed them at a competitive level on par with India. So it would be useful for them to strike a partnership with India and build up capacity and, at the same time, look for Indian support to market themselves with India as IT destinations. India’s support to Mauritius to groom itself as a cyber island with a $100 million credit is a case in point. The question is whether there is an agenda for South Asian cooperation in the arena of IT. Could the region be developed as an IT Hub? How can SAFTA, which will cover the non-traditional areas and new economy issues, be geared to address the issue of IT cooperation? The answer lies in analysing many factors. At the SAARC Summit, several opinions were projected on the issue of a unified IT approach. The Technical Committee on Communications and Transport under the SAARC Integrated Programme of Action (SIPA) identified the issues pertaining to possible cooperation in the field of communications. Similarly, at the meeting of the SAARC Information Ministers held in Islamabad last year, regional cooperation in ICT was discussed. The discussions centred around three aspects: developing appropriate software for information infrastructure of SAARC functional cooperation, publicity of SAARC activities in ICT around the world and evolving a common position for the region in the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which was recently held in Geneva. No concrete action happened on any front. So there needs to be a fresh beginning and nations realise this. Some of the possible areas where there could be significant cooperation include the projecting of the whole region as an outsourcing destination, building capacity for quality software exports, improving manpower capacity and focusing on employment. India will have to take the lead in this process to foster a sense of cooperation among the SAARC nations. Its present status as an IT superpower gives it credibility to assume this role and perhaps one way to set the ball rolling is to organise the SAFTA agenda so as to cover the issue of IT cooperation. The South Asian Chamber of Commerce, to be activated shortly, should be given the mandate to work out the modalities. More than trying to start joint marketing with India in the first place, the stress should be on taking India’s help in capacity building. This could cover the areas of oriented education, building up infrastructures like quality bandwidth, revising IT policies with proper incentives for fostering a conducive culture for growth. The recent Digital Access Index (DAI), launched by the International Telecommunications Union in December 2003, provides a good thrust to improve. Likewise, the citizen delivery services should be a focus area for governments. Tax and bill payments, civic functions, land records, delivery of government information, and so on, should be some of the first moves in this field. The revolution which IT has ushered in many regions could also be unleashed here. The realisation is there, focused action should follow.
