Regional consultation on
Deepening Economic Cooperation in South Asia: Expectations from the 18th SAARC Summit
November 23-24, 2014, Kathmandu, Nepal
Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) has taken up the initiative to understand the current scenario of regional cooperation among Southern and Central Asian countries in energy sector and propose the way ahead to harmonise the regulatory mechanism within the region to encourage trade, investment and knowledge sharing for energy cooperation.
In this regard, CUTS is organising a series of conferences with support & partnership with relevant partners, such as Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Sustainable Development Policy Initiative (SDPI), etc. with the aim to create a platform for dialogue among relevant stakeholders to achieve greater cooperation, coordination and integration for sharing of energy resources.
The first regional conference in the series was organised in Islamabad, Pakistan on May 22, 2014, with focus on ‘Trans-boundary Cooperation in the Energy Sector in South and Central Asia’, especially between Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Pakistan. The second regional conference was organised in Kolkata, India on August 07-08, 2014, involving countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.
For the third & the final phase of these series of events, CUTS organised a regional conference on the side-lines of 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit which was held on 23rd-24th November, 2014 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The motive of the conference was to consolidate efforts at the regional level and avoid duplications in order to achieve desired outcomes.
Finally, CUTS would consolidate the findings of this whole initiative and propose a long term sustainable programme in the region to not only facilitate, but also encourage regional cooperation on energy issues.