FE Report
Shippers of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (ASCOBIPS) urged the SAARC member countries to form SAARC Shippers' Council to harness better benefits from such regional organisation.
The immediate past chairman of the association of the four countries (ASCOBIPS), Mahabub Ali, said this at a press conference held at a city hotel Wednesday.
He said the formation of SAARC Shippers' Council like ASEAN Shippers' Council will help reduce time and cost of loading and unloading of import and export goods from ships among the SAARC members countries.
He said if the SAARC Shippers' Council could be established the shipping fare would be reasonable. This will also help reduce prices of essential commodities among the member countries, he said.
Mahabub Ali said in the age of globalisation the regional trade volume has increased manifold in other parts of the world due to formation of such service-oriented association, but the trade volume among SAARC member countries is either declining or has remained stable over the years.
Ali said the SAARC Shippers' Council will also help increase in intra-regional trade as one country will be dependent on another under the council.
Earlier, Ali and three of his colleagues met with other ASCOBIPS members to discuss the feasibility of formation of SAARC Shippers' Council meeting in Mumbai of India on August 30-31 last.
Quoting the Mumbai discussion Ali said the participating members agreed that the objectives of elimination of poverty from South and Southeast Asia through formation of BIMSTEC and APEC will be more meaningful if the SAARC Shippers' Council could be formed.
Plea to form SAARC Shippers' Council
FE Team | Published: September 13, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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