Abstract
Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) organized the seventh South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) at New Delhi from 5 to 7 November 2014 with the support from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India; the World Bank, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The co-organizers of the event were the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) of Sri Lanka, Colombo; the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad; the South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Kathmandu; the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), Kathmandu; and the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Dhaka.
This volume contains the Papers of the seventh SAES held in November 2014. We have selected only those articles which have followed the publication standards of the South Asia Economic Journal (SAEJ). The guidelines under which articles are published in this issue differ considerably from those governing the regular issues of the SAEJ. First, the length of articles is strictly controlled. Second, the articles are edited but are not subjected to a formal refereeing process. Third, the content and range of the subject matter reflect the scope of the journal to illuminate the current state of economic research and thinking. In most cases, therefore, the articles are exploratory, rather than formal presentations of the original research.
This issue of SAEJ carries seven papers presented at the seventh SAES, which are as follows: South Asian Economic Union: Challenges and Tasks Ahead by Selim Raihan; Challenges to Regional Services Integration in South Asia by Rupa Chanda; Potential and Prospects of Strengthening Transport Connectivity for Regional Economic Integration in Southern Asia by Nagesh Kumar; Strengthening South Asia Value Chain: Prospects and Challenges by Vaqar Ahmed, Abid Q. Suleri and Asif Javed; Stimulating Intra-regional Investment in SAARC: Is a Regional Investment Agreement the Way Forward? by Raveen Ekanayake and Nipuni Perera; Payment Systems to Facilitate South Asian Integration by Ashima Goyal; and Regional Integration and the Post-2015 Framework: A South Asian Perspective by Debapriya Bhattacharya. The articles illustrate the current state of affairs of South Asian economic integration in all major facets of economic integration, discuss the challenges to overcome in order to strengthen the regional integration process and present a way forward in order to achieve South Asia Economic Union (SAEU). Findings of these articles indicate that the way forward is through cooperation. The level of cooperation would determine the possibility of South Asia community and economic union. Therefore, all the member countries must work for a prosperous South Asia.
A good deal of coordination is required to produce a volume of this type in such a short period of time. The editor wishes to thank the authors for their cooperation in meeting deadlines. Those who deserve special recognition include Sreya Pan and Gaurav Kumar for their excellent work in coordinating the intake of articles, sending page proofs and answering author questions. I am also grateful to Prof. Muchkund Dubey, Amb. Shyam Saran and Amb. Ajay Gondane for their encouragement and support in organising the 7th SAES.