By Dambarjung Dangi
Kathmandu, June 1: In the spirit of the South Asian Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ), Nepal, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh are in the process of launching joint programmes for the development of tourism industry in the region.
The countries in the growth quadrangle are working on different areas to exploit their natural resources and enhance trade by formulating strategies for mutual cooperation to attain common goal of economic development in the region.
Participants from the countries in the South Asian Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ) in the second meeting of the Tourism Working Group (TWG) said that the concept of growth quadrangle would help accelerate economic growth to a great extent.
During the second meeting of the TWG being held with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the participants also discussed the outcome of the first meeting held on May 15-16 last year and agreed to consolidate their common efforts for the development of human resources and tourism industry.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been providing assistance to the SAGQ for economic development programmes.
Speaking at the meeting, Richard Vokes, Country Director- Nepal Resident Mission of the ADB, said “ADB attaches great importance to the SAGQ, a sub-regional initiative of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) and it has been helping to support these initiatives through its South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC).”
“These efforts have now gained considerable momentum under the RETA 5936: Identification and Prioritisation of Sub-regional Projects in South Asia, the lead activity under the SASEC,” he said.
The ADB should and can play only a facilitating role in promoting sub-regional cooperation initiative such as those being undertaken by the SAGQ. The process of sub-regional cooperation can succeed only when the participating countries themselves take ownership and lead the process, Vokes said.
“We are very encouraged by the strong ownership shown by the four member countries of SAGQ and the entire SASEC sector working groups,” he added.
The tourism sector is one such area which could benefit from sub-regional cooperation. The region has rich tourism potential. Since inception, this group has agreed on priority areas where sub-regional projects can be identified to tap tourism potential in the sub-region, he said.
Vokes also said that the main objective of the second meeting is to discuss agreements reached in the previous inception meeting, to consider the draft background papers prepared by consultants and to prioritise the potential sub-regional projects and programmes for the sector.
Principal Programme Officer of the ADB, Massaki Nagata said that the technical assistance grants were also provided to BBIN to prepare and execute projects and to finance institution building, plan formulation and sector, policy and issues oriented studies. “Such grants amounted to US $ 19 million in 2001,” Nagata said, adding, “The amount does not include grants for fostering regional cooperation among DMCs. Such grants to South Asian averaged US $ 3.5 million annually in the past three years,” Nagata noted.
“The ADB has not been actively involved in the promotion of the tourism sector. There was a perception in ADB that since the sector generates sufficient returns for the investor, it is not a priority sector for public financing,” Nagata noted.
In BBIN, tourism receipts are estimated at US$ 3.5 billion in 2000. This sector’s growth rate averaged four per cent annually from 1995-2000 with growth in Bangladesh and Bhutan averaging 24 per cent and 12.4 per cent, respectively for the same period, Nagata said.
The secretary of Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry of Bangladesh Satikal Islam, Commerce and Tourism Secretary of Bhutan Dasho Karma, and Secretary of Tourism of India J Dash also expressed their views on the occasion.
Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Dr. Bimal Prasad Koirala also expressed views at the meeting.