Dhaka hosts South Asian Economics Students' Meet 2009
Monday, 15 March 2010
Moogdho Mim Mahzab
The South Asian Economics Students' Meet popularly known as SAESM, a prestigious academic event for the South Asian undergraduate students pursuing major in Economics, was held in Dhaka on December 9-10. SAESM is the only conference, so far, that gives a big platform to the young future economists of this region.
The meet started its journey from New Delhi in 2004 and was successfully hosted by Lahore in 2005, Dhaka in 2006, Colombo in 2007, and Delhi in 2008. The meet returned to Dhaka in 2009 with much bigger anticipation as the reputation of the conference grows over the time.
Most of the ex-participants displayed great potentials in their career. The stature of the meet reached such a level that World Bank and other reputed organisations are now coming forward to sponsor the event each year.
The venue of the 6th SAESM 2009 was Dhaka Sheraton Hotel and Nawab Nabal Ali Chowdhury Bhaban, University of Dhaka. The total number of students participated in the meet was 58 from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. From each country two faculty members accompanied the team. One of the faculty members was the Country Coordinator of the respective team.
The theme of the event was "Integrating Ideas of Young Economists' Mind for South Asian Development". It reflects the broad idea of SAESM in one sentence. The topics which were chosen for research papers in this SAESM were: Global Economic Crisis (GEC), Multilateral and Regional Integration, Agrarian, Land and Aquarian Reform, Human Development and Poverty, Nexus between Energy and Power and Development, Food Security, Environment, SMEs and Informal Sector. All these are the most burning national and international issues today.
The programme started basically from December 07 with the arrival of Pakistan team first. On December 08 the rest of the three teams from Sri Lanka, Nepal and India arrived. The setting was perfect at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel for the meet. The chief guest of the inaugural ceremony was the Honourable Finance Minister of Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Mr. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. The minister was very pleased and was looking forward to this meet of the young economists of South Asia.
On the first day of conference, papers were presented on the topics of Multilateral and Regional Integration, Food Security, Agrarian, Land and Aquarian Reform, Global Economic Crisis, Human Development and Poverty and Environment. The first round of the Competition for the Budding Economist of South Asia was also held on day one of the meet.
Each of the participants was giving their best to win on the topic in which they were presenting the paper and bringing pride to their own country. Three parallel sessions were held in two separate shifts on the first day. In each technical session three distinguish faculties from different countries judged the presentations. The chief guest of each session was the Chairman/Managing Director/Higher Authority from the respective sponsors. Nearly 300 students joined the conference to watch and experience from the SAESM meet.
The dinner of the first night was also an attracting and fruitful one. The IFMR, India presented the dinner talk on "Access to finance for All" on that night. We were privileged to get Dr. Atiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank Governor as a special guest and Dr. Mahabub Hossain, Executive Director, BRAC as a speaker for the dinner. Dr. Kshama Fernandes, the vice president of IFMR was also present on the occasion. Indeed it was a nice experience for every participant to have an idea about the microfinance structure of Bangladesh as well as of the other countries.
On the second day of the conference, technical sessions on the theme of SMEs and Informal Sector and Nexus between Energy, Power and Development started from the morning at the Dhaka Sheraton. The most attracting part of the programme was held at the Nawab Naba Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, Dhaka University in the afternoon. This part of the SAESM consisted the Quiz Competition, the visual and interview round of the Budding Economists Competition and finally the Prize Giving Ceremony. Prof. AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor, University of Dhaka was the Chief Guest at the Prize giving ceremony. In front of nearly 400 audiences including students, participants, faculties and special guests this last round of the conference took place. This part of the conference was most significant as the scale of competition was raised to a great level. Finally the result was announced by the country coordinator of Bangladesh, Dr. Selim Raihan. The winners list is as follow:
Prof Abul Barkat, Chairman, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Prof. AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor, University of Dhaka distributed the Gold Medal to the winners and the mementoes to participants and to the organisers. The long awaited souvenir of the conference was launched at the closing ceremony. The souvenir of the conference was very rich. One of the greatest thinkers and economists of the world Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen has given his consent for republishing one of his articles.
The dinner of the last night at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel was a great one. At the pool top patio the dinner was enlightened by the presence of the great economists of our country: Prof Mosharraf Hossain and Prof. Mozzaffar Ahmed as the special guests and Prof. Wahiduddin Mahmud as the speaker of the special occasion.
Then the fun part of the meet started when all the participants, faculties and organisers numbering 80 went for the retreat at the Cox's Bazar.
On the December 12, the whole team went to Himchari and Inani. Everyone had a great time there too.
Apart from the intellectual academic learning, the SAESM meet helped forge friendship and brotherhood. The South Asian countries differ in their language, culture, food habits and also in the way of their living. But for SAESM the bond, which has been created among each participant, is really an amazing one. Bangladesh has become a second home for many of the participants.
In the current situation of political, social and economic crisis an initiative for working together is important. SAESM is a forum that has brought the young leaders of South Asia together on a single platform for the betterment of South Asia as a whole. Department of Economics, University of Dhaka.
The writer can be reached at e-mail: mailto:moogdho_du@yahoo.com
The South Asian Economics Students' Meet popularly known as SAESM, a prestigious academic event for the South Asian undergraduate students pursuing major in Economics, was held in Dhaka on December 9-10. SAESM is the only conference, so far, that gives a big platform to the young future economists of this region.
The meet started its journey from New Delhi in 2004 and was successfully hosted by Lahore in 2005, Dhaka in 2006, Colombo in 2007, and Delhi in 2008. The meet returned to Dhaka in 2009 with much bigger anticipation as the reputation of the conference grows over the time.
Most of the ex-participants displayed great potentials in their career. The stature of the meet reached such a level that World Bank and other reputed organisations are now coming forward to sponsor the event each year.
The venue of the 6th SAESM 2009 was Dhaka Sheraton Hotel and Nawab Nabal Ali Chowdhury Bhaban, University of Dhaka. The total number of students participated in the meet was 58 from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. From each country two faculty members accompanied the team. One of the faculty members was the Country Coordinator of the respective team.
The theme of the event was "Integrating Ideas of Young Economists' Mind for South Asian Development". It reflects the broad idea of SAESM in one sentence. The topics which were chosen for research papers in this SAESM were: Global Economic Crisis (GEC), Multilateral and Regional Integration, Agrarian, Land and Aquarian Reform, Human Development and Poverty, Nexus between Energy and Power and Development, Food Security, Environment, SMEs and Informal Sector. All these are the most burning national and international issues today.
The programme started basically from December 07 with the arrival of Pakistan team first. On December 08 the rest of the three teams from Sri Lanka, Nepal and India arrived. The setting was perfect at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel for the meet. The chief guest of the inaugural ceremony was the Honourable Finance Minister of Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Mr. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. The minister was very pleased and was looking forward to this meet of the young economists of South Asia.
On the first day of conference, papers were presented on the topics of Multilateral and Regional Integration, Food Security, Agrarian, Land and Aquarian Reform, Global Economic Crisis, Human Development and Poverty and Environment. The first round of the Competition for the Budding Economist of South Asia was also held on day one of the meet.
| Themes | Winner |
| Global Economic Crisis | Sanjay Raj Singh, India |
| Multilateral and Regional Integration | Galib Ibne Anwarul Azim, Bangladesh |
| Agrarian, Land and Aquarian Reform | Ammar Farooq, Pakistan |
| Human Development and Poverty | Anoushe Sheharnaz Hassan, Pakistan |
| Nexus between Energy, Power and Development | Keshav Parthasarathy, India |
| Food Security | Muhammed Sadique ShanazBanu,Sri Lanka |
| Environment | Mahnaz Nazneen, Bangladesh |
| SMEs and Informal Sector | Tarek Aziz, Bangladesh |
| Budding Economist Of South Asia | Bisma Haseeb Khan, Pakistan |
| Quiz Competition | Team Pakistan |
Each of the participants was giving their best to win on the topic in which they were presenting the paper and bringing pride to their own country. Three parallel sessions were held in two separate shifts on the first day. In each technical session three distinguish faculties from different countries judged the presentations. The chief guest of each session was the Chairman/Managing Director/Higher Authority from the respective sponsors. Nearly 300 students joined the conference to watch and experience from the SAESM meet.
The dinner of the first night was also an attracting and fruitful one. The IFMR, India presented the dinner talk on "Access to finance for All" on that night. We were privileged to get Dr. Atiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank Governor as a special guest and Dr. Mahabub Hossain, Executive Director, BRAC as a speaker for the dinner. Dr. Kshama Fernandes, the vice president of IFMR was also present on the occasion. Indeed it was a nice experience for every participant to have an idea about the microfinance structure of Bangladesh as well as of the other countries.
On the second day of the conference, technical sessions on the theme of SMEs and Informal Sector and Nexus between Energy, Power and Development started from the morning at the Dhaka Sheraton. The most attracting part of the programme was held at the Nawab Naba Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, Dhaka University in the afternoon. This part of the SAESM consisted the Quiz Competition, the visual and interview round of the Budding Economists Competition and finally the Prize Giving Ceremony. Prof. AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor, University of Dhaka was the Chief Guest at the Prize giving ceremony. In front of nearly 400 audiences including students, participants, faculties and special guests this last round of the conference took place. This part of the conference was most significant as the scale of competition was raised to a great level. Finally the result was announced by the country coordinator of Bangladesh, Dr. Selim Raihan. The winners list is as follow:
Prof Abul Barkat, Chairman, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Prof. AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor, University of Dhaka distributed the Gold Medal to the winners and the mementoes to participants and to the organisers. The long awaited souvenir of the conference was launched at the closing ceremony. The souvenir of the conference was very rich. One of the greatest thinkers and economists of the world Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen has given his consent for republishing one of his articles.
The dinner of the last night at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel was a great one. At the pool top patio the dinner was enlightened by the presence of the great economists of our country: Prof Mosharraf Hossain and Prof. Mozzaffar Ahmed as the special guests and Prof. Wahiduddin Mahmud as the speaker of the special occasion.
Then the fun part of the meet started when all the participants, faculties and organisers numbering 80 went for the retreat at the Cox's Bazar.
On the December 12, the whole team went to Himchari and Inani. Everyone had a great time there too.
Apart from the intellectual academic learning, the SAESM meet helped forge friendship and brotherhood. The South Asian countries differ in their language, culture, food habits and also in the way of their living. But for SAESM the bond, which has been created among each participant, is really an amazing one. Bangladesh has become a second home for many of the participants.
In the current situation of political, social and economic crisis an initiative for working together is important. SAESM is a forum that has brought the young leaders of South Asia together on a single platform for the betterment of South Asia as a whole. Department of Economics, University of Dhaka.
The writer can be reached at e-mail: mailto:moogdho_du@yahoo.com