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Hegde's mantra for stable Asia: counter-trade without dollar reference

Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde has urged developing countries to end the dominance of the dollar in international trade and replace it through counter trade by strengthening bilateral and commercial ties.

Following the financial crisis in the South-East Asian countries, the developing countries had realised that total dependence on any single currency in international trade was suicidal, Hegde said in a speech after inaugurating India Day on the second day of the SAARC Trade Fair in Colombo.

Raising the spectre of economic imperialism, he said it is important to have counter-trade without any reference to the almighty dollar.

India had already sent a team of officials to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to explore the possibility of counter-trade without any reference to the US dollar, he added.

He said that in his talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Kingsley Wickramaratna, they had agreed to convene a meeting of the governors of the central banks of the SAARC countries to study in detail and work out a plan of action on how dependence on a single currency for trade could be minimised.

He said he did not want to use harsh words, ''but we must be beware of economic imperialism. Just because we are not developed to that extent, it does not mean that we have no self-respect. Therefore, we have to stand together''.

If the European Union can gang up together and dictate terms to others, is it not in our interest to stand together? Hegde asked.

He agreed with Wickramaratna that the SAARC countries must put their trade and investment programmes on a fast track.

''I also suggested that while exploring the avenues ofstrengthening bilateral and intra-regional trade in the SAARC region, we should also on the basis of mutual agreement explore the possibility of joint marketing campaigns,'' he said.

In this connection, he said India and Sri Lanka could jointly market their excellent tea, instead of entering into a mutually suicidal competition. Similarly, India and Pakistan should jointly market the basmati rice and protect their intellectual property rights.

''We in the SAARC countries have to stand together to face the domination by developed countries, because the developed countries could not understand and appreciate the problems we faced,'' he said.

He said the developed nations took up various issues in the name of high-sounding principles, but their primary aim was to block market access to goods produced in the developed countries.

Citing the instance of the traditional carpet industries, where the skill is passed down from father to son, Hegde said this was termed child labour in a bid to prevent the entry of carpets into the markets of the developed countries.

He said it was a significant achievement that for the first time, the SAARC countries adopted a common position and issued a joint statement at the last World Trade Organisation conference in Geneva.

He said Asia was emerging as the largest world market and asked, ''should we leave our markets to somebody, who come from 10,000 to 12,000 miles away, to capture?''

He stressed that regional economic cooperation led to faster economic growth and greater prosperity for the people of the region.

The integration of South Asia, which constituted the world's largest potential market of over 1.2 billion people, would release enormous entrepreneurial energy and economies of scales, besides attracting large-scale foreign direct investment and technology, he added.

''The imperative of trade co-operation in SAARC is highlighted vividly when considering that more than 90 per cent of the region's requirements are being sourced from countries outside the region and, likewise, their products are destined for countries outside the region.''

He urged the governments in the region to create conditions congenial for promoting intra-regional economic interaction.

He said that apart from lifting the quantitative restrictions on 2,000 items of import from SAARC countries in August, India had also doubled the ceiling on Indian investments in joint ventures in the region from $ 8 million to $ 15 million.

UNI