Delivering his valedictory address at conclusion of the first meeting of the South Asia Forum (SAF) here on Friday, the minister said : “the economies of different member countries in the region are not at par. There are some economies more developed than others. India is one of the emerging economies of the world. To talk of trade and investment flows as the basis for integration of South Asia may not yield the desired result as the economies of the region would be interested in protecting their interests and not willing for free trade. Therefore, development issues based on commonality of the region should first be addressed.”

The SAF is an initiative of public-private partnership set up following the resolution of the 16th SAARC Summit in Thimpu in 2010.

The SAF in the its first meeting in Delhi stressed the need for boosting intra-South Asian trade and investment flows for achieving greater integration of the region which would ultimately lead to South Asia Community and South Asian Economic Union . SAF noted that intra-South Asian trade was below the desired level and the region was least integrated in the world.

Sibal said :”first we must choose the areas where we can work together. Agriculture can be one such area. We need to boost agriculture productivity to beyond 4% which is not sufficient for a two-digit overall GDP growth. Agriculture productivity needs inputs from science and technology. Agriculture growth would increase the income of the rural people.”

Next we need to connect the university and school systems through ICT, he said and added that by 2030 all the gram panchayats (rural local bodies) in India would be inter-connected by fibre optic network at an investment of Rs 30,000 crore. “The real South Asia Union will come through social network and not through economic network,” he said.

Sibal also suggested the need for having common airlines in the region.

He stressed the importance of cooperation in healthcare system and e-health programme through satellite connectivity. He said that pharmaceutical companies were shifting their bases from the developed world to Asia. “This unique opportunity should be enchased. Discovering a molecule in the developed world need an investment of billion of dollars, while the cost will be one-third in South Asia,” he said.

The minister noted that most of the medical equipment were imported from the developed world. “We need to develop a standard for manufacture of quality medical equipment and encourage its manufacture in the region”, he said.

Sibal also suggested greater people-to-people movement in the region.

Earlier, the Indian External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna in his dinner speech on Thursday had suggested the need for promoting trade and investment in the region. He also suggested that countries having Observer status in the SAARC Summits should be active participants in SAF.