Enhanced cooperation among SASEC member countries would give impetus to SMEs: Jaitley

New Delhi, Apr 3 (KNN) Enhanced cooperation among the member countries would give an impetus to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region, said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the meeting of the Finance Ministers of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) countries in the national capital today.

India is following a policy of ‘Act East’ to improve connectivity and relations with countries of South East Asia and East Asia, Jaitley said.

He said, “Our policy will definitely receive a fillip with Myanmar’s participation in SASEC. Improved access to gateway ports particularly in Bangladesh and Myanmar may help unleash the latent potential of agro and forest based industries in India’s North East region.”

With Myanmar joining SASEC, Jaitley said it will facilitate a credible link between South Asia and South East Asia.

Improved connectivity and infrastructure development could substantially spur economic growth in the region.

“Enhanced cooperation among the member countries would also give an impetus to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the region. Collaboration in knowledge sharing would facilitate innovation and research,” he said.   

India is also part of a number of other regional initiatives such as Indian Ocean Rim- Association of Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), BCIM, SAARC, Mekong-Ganga Initiative that have significance in South Asia. 

The Joint Ministerial Statement issued after SASEC Finance Ministers’ meeting on “Powering Asia in the 21st Century” said, “We will leverage natural resource-based industries by tapping into latent industrial demand within the subregion. We will promote subregional industry-to-industry links to develop regional value chains and enhance the subregion’s competitiveness.”

“We will enhance the connectivity within countries and between countries to improve the productivity of economic activities, including trade and tourism. We will take advantage of our common heritage and cultural ties to improve people-to-people contact. We will develop gateways and hubs to expand the subregion’s trade and commerce to regional and global markets. We believe that these synergies can generate annually, an estimated $70 billion in incremental GDP and 20 million in incremental aggregate employment by 2025,” the Joint statement added.