The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Call to work for economic growth of South Asian nations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 28, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Call to work for economic growth of South Asian nations

Staff Reporter

Union Minister urges people to strive for peace in the region

SAYING IT WITH FLOWERS: Vijay Darda of Lokmat Group of Newspapers and Javed Jabbar of Pakistan (left) offering a bouquet to the Union Minister, Praful Patel, at the valedictory of the 6th conference of South Asian Editors Forum in Hyderabad on Frid ay. Photo: K. Gajendran.

HYDERABAD: The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, on Friday said economic growth of the South Asian nations was the only way to usher in peace in the region.

Speaking at the valedictory of the 6th conference of South Asian Editors Forum here, he urged all sections of people to come together and contribute their mite to bring in peace. He said as journalists, whose editorial publications, reached millions of people, they played a vital role in improving awareness among sections of society with the common goal of doing away with misunderstanding among nations.

The Union Minister regretted that in a large country like India, the number of aircraft was only 180. "Compare it with the United States which has 7,000 planes and some other nations and you will realise the enormity of the potential," he said.

Resources pooling

Mr. Patel mooted the idea of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) coming together and pooling resources to improve communication and transport facilities among SAARC nations. "We can buy planes and operate them which will have a cascading effect on the economy and promote tourism," he said, adding that in the next five years, the investment on aviation in India alone was an estimated USD 30 billion.

Summarising the deliberations, Sundeep Waslekar, founding co-convenor, SAEF, and founder, International Centre for Peace Initiatives, said economists said that even if India and Pakistan could maintain a consistent economic growth for the next 20 years, they could not reach a per capita income of USD 2,500 like the USA. Others who spoke were Vijay Darda, MP and CMD, Lokmat Group of Newspapers, Raj Chengappa of India Today, Kumar Ketkar and SAEF founding co-convenor from Pakistan Javed Jabbar.

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