Two Points Worth a Long Pause
One of the panelists from East Asia made an interesting observation about South Asia, which I find equally applicable in the Afghan context: “South Asian dynamics are marked by a domination of politics over economics, while East Asian dynamics are marked by a domination of economics over politics. For example the India-Pakistan political tensions block building understanding on the way forward on economic development, while the China-Taiwan relations reflect the domination of economics on politics.” One entity that I think is a victim of this dynamic is SAFMA, the South Asian Media Federation, mainly because one of the panelists proposed to have a South Asian Media Summit while SAFMA exists and this makes me question SAFMA’s effectiveness. I just think this is worth a long pause, and I’d leave it at that.
The same East Asian Panelist also highlighted the need to look at deepening South Asian Integration through increased Global Integration; increased engagement with the global economy. So should national integration to be also looked at from the prism of regional economic integration then?