FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Boao Forum For Asia
Forging Trade Partnership

By Uttam Maharjan

THEIR Majesties the King and Queen recently paid a state visit to the People’s Republic of China at the friendly invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin. The visit was the first state visit of Their Majesties to the country in the new millennium.

China attaches considerable importance to Nepal and shows respect to the Nepalese Monarch. That King Birendra was made the guest of honour at the inaugural ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia goes on to indicate that China sets the Nepalese Monarch on a pedestal of high esteem.

During Their Majesties’ China visit, the forum, consisting of 24 Asian nations, was formed at Boao on 26 February 2001. Boao is situated in the Hainan Province of China. The forum acts as a common platform for pushing ahead the Asian nations by enlisting and enhancing their participation for a solution to global and regional problems.

The forum formed under the dynamic leadership of China reflects the aspirations and feelings of the people of Asia. It will act as a common platform for high-level interactions and deliberations among the business and academic communities of Asia to promote trade and investment, forge partnership and develop a paradigm on appraising and tackling the challenges being faced by Asia in Asian perspective.

Furthermore, seminars will be regularly held for deliberations on important issues relating to trade, investment, the degrading environment, the degrading environment and science and technology. It may be believed that the forum will strengthen regional partnership, monitor global and regional economic trends and facilitate and promote business contacts among the business communities.

The Asian nations are reeling under various problems relating to poverty, unemployment, population growth, illiteracy, health, drinking water, the degrading environment and so on as well as drug trafficking, terrorism and crime. The newly formed forum aims at tackling these problems through the concerted efforts of the Asian nations.

The forum will not address political issues because it is trade-oriented. So it will involve entrepreneurs and intellectuals in the formulation of strategies of promoting trade and investment between the member nations on the basis of strategic partnership.

China gives special importance to the forum as it is aware of the handicaps the developing nations are facing now. The forum could be an effective tool for boosting their economic conditions through their collective endeavours.

Asia is a cradle of some ancient civilisations. It is the largest continent in the world, having diverse traditions, cultures and legacies. The continent is rich in human and natural resources; nevertheless, it has not been able to notch up satisfactory progress.

Moreover, there is a lop-sided development among the nations. For instance, Japan and Nepal are poles apart in terms of economic development.

We have already stepped into the 21st century. The world has undergone a sea change due to advances in various fields, including science and technology and information technology. It has also been greatly influenced by sweeping economic liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation. However, the economic conditions of the Asian people have not changed for the better as revealed by the fact that most of the people are still poor. Therefore, it has been essential for the developed countries to enable the developing countries to set up infrastructure bases by providing technical assistance.

Some countries have been able to open up new vistas of trade diversification and economic growth through globalisation, liberalisation and free market economies. But most countries are in developmental backwaters for the lack of adequate capital, technology and infrastructure development.

The role of developed countries becomes all the more pronounced in this regard. There should be technical and economic cooperation between the Asian nations, irrespective of whether they are developed or not.

The economic changes of 1978 has made China one of the economic giants in the world. It has since given priority to foreign direct investments (FDIs).

China has been a good economic partner of Nepal for decades. Besides assisting us in such fields as transportation, industry, tourism, hydropower, irrigation and infrastructure development, China has embarked upon joint-venture projects in the country since 1992 with a new approach, which has involved Chinese entrepreneurs in partnership with Nepalese counterparts. By this approach, both sides have benefitted greatly from the expansion of jointly contributed capital resources and the exchange of technical knowhow. Sharing such a spirit among the Asian nations is certainly desirable as well as beneficial.

In the 21st Century, "trade, not aid" should be the motto for developed countries to help developing countries. Nepal has been receiving foreign aid for five decades. Yet, there has not been any satisfactory progress in the country in uplifting the economic status of the people. In fact, foreign aid is often misused to a great extent in a developing country like Nepal. On the other hand, foreign aid would cripple native skills and technology, thus making a country dependent on other countries. This does not mean that foreign aid has only negative impacts. However, trade should be preferred to aid.

In the changed global context, developing countries’ goods and services should have access to developed countries’ markets without any strings attached. However, such products should be up to standard and have a demand in the markets. If need be, developed countries could transfer technology to developing countries so that the latter may use it and make themselves advanced technologically. In this context, the forum will, hopefully, encourage such a trend, thus promoting trade between the Asian nations and contributing to their economies to a great extent.

As started above, the Asian region is very rich in human and natural resources and for the proper development of these resources, the developed nations should lend a helping hand. For instance, Nepal is very rich in water resources, occupying the second position (after Brazil) in the world. It
has a potential for generating 83,000 megawatts of electricity, out of which less than one per cent has been harnessed. It is encouraging to note that foreign investors have shown keen interest in investing in the country’s hydropower sector.

With the Boao Forum for Asia now formally established, it may be hoped that the regional grouping will greatly enhance a spirit of economic cooperation characterised by goodwill, esprit de crops and solidarity among the Asian nations and help integrate their economies into the mainstream of globaliation.

Other Stories