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Trade and sustainable
development in the member countries of the South Asian Agreement
on Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
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Implementation:
UNCTAD
Beneficiary Countries: South Asian countries
Status: in the pipeline
Building on previous work, UNCTAD and
UNDP are jointly developing a technical cooperation project for
capacity building in the area of Trade and Environment in South
Asia.
Objectives:
The project has three
immediate objectives:
- Supporting the effective
participation of SAARC countries in multilateral deliberations·
- Strengthening national
capacities to coordinate trade and environment policy-making aimed
at achieving sustainable development objectives in the context
of globalization and trade liberalization; and
- Strengthening regional
cooperation on trade and environment issues as part of a process
in moving towards a South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA),
with a view to reducing the vulnerability of these economies to
external shocks such as those experienced during the Asian financial
crisis
Activities:
The project will follow
a two-pronged approach: one will be based on intra-regional cooperation
and the second will involve developing issues of interest to SAARC
members vis-ŕ-vis third countries. The project proposes a series
of activities to achieve these objectives, such as training seminars,
workshops, round table discussions, multi-stakeholder meetings,
the promotion of business partnerships, networking of research institutes,
the exchange of information and analysis through the Internet, policy-oriented
studies and pilot projects.
Intra-SAARC issues
:
- Mainstreaming trading
opportunities for "environment-friendly" products
- Promoting sustainable
development in the context of regional integration
- "Win-win" research
- Regional cooperation
on standards
SAARC issues in the
context of globalization and trade liberalization :
- Addressing market
access issues ·
- Strengthening the
contribution of investment and diffusion of technologies to sustainable
development
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