 Yet, intra-regional trade accounts for less than 5% of their overall trade. And a recent World Bank study shows that if you actually looked at the economic complementarities and the geographical proximity of the South Asian countries, they should be trading three times more than what is the case. And South Asian countries are trading more with outside of South Asia compared to with its own neighbors. And in fact, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka have 2.9 times more restrictions on trade on its South Asian partners compared with the rest of the world. So these are just some of the numbers that show you that even though you have a SAFTA, is it called, South Asia Free Trade Area, where there has been a program of tariff reduction, barriers still exist, including physical barriers of connectivity. And also digital connectivity, I think, would be another important area for us to look at given the potential for digital economy and how developing countries, small developing countries, isolated countries can actually leapfrog if they were digitally connected. So these are some of the main themes that we want to address in this session. We have four very excellent speakers representing different parts of the region as well as somebody from the private sector. The first panelist is His Excellency Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, who was also the CEO in 2014 and 2018, and he has had a long career in government, including being the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The second panelist is His Excellency KP Sharma Ali, Prime Minister of Nepal. Second term as the Prime Minister of Nepal, position he has held since 2015, and he has had an instrumental role in fighting for Nepal's constitution as a democratic country, and I think has been very instrumental in laying out the ground for the economic transformation of his country. Third panelist is Sikva Breke, President and CEO of Teleno Group Norway, which is a telecommunications company dealing with mobile, broadband and TV services with a strong footprint everywhere in the world, I think, but also in South Asia as well as Southeast Asia. Finally, last but not least, Professor Raghu Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller, Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business USA, who has had a distinguished career in academia, is an expert in the financial sector, has served in the IMF and most recently in the Indian government as Chief Economic Advisor as well as the Central Bank Governor to the Reserve Bank of India. So we have an excellent panel of speakers and I'm going to start by asking His Excellency Abdullah Abdullah from Afghanistan. If you could share with us what are the challenges of economic development in Afghanistan and how you see the prospect for regional cooperation as playing a role in your country's development and what would be the challenges that you see in furthering economic integration in South Asia. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, in spite of the security challenges that we are faced with in terms of connectivity and also utilizing the potential of Afghanistan, South Asia or Central Asia, Asian country. Some work has been done. A lot of work, I can say, if we look at the Afghanistan's participation in the regional organization, part of SAARC, different agreements, SAFTA, APTA, which is with Pakistan, ECO, CARIC, which is again Central Asian Afghanistan initiative and regional economic cooperation organization called RECA, which was an initiative by Afghanistan in the earlier days. Today we have the Chabahar connectivity after quite a while, but there is a slight challenge because of the sanctions, but still that is a viable project which will improve the economies of Afghanistan, South Asia and Central Asia. As yourself rightly mentioned, the least integrated region perhaps in the world economically in terms of trade in export and import is the South Asia, while arguably at one time it claimed like 25 percent of GDP of the world today trade between some of the countries of the region or if they want to trade with Brazil, South American countries or Africa, it's much easier than doing it within themselves. You give the figures about it while the potentials are multiplied by many folds if it is utilized. Of course, the national security perceptions and policies and conflict, of course, unfortunately, this is not the only area where there has been some tensions over conflict. Other countries, East Asia, Pacific has seen this in the past and they have overcome it. So that's the picture at the moment, but Afghanistan through some projects, regional projects like TAPI which is Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan in India, GOS gas transmission project, TAP which is between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it's mainly electricity, KAZA-1000 which is Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, digital KAZA which is mainly the digital aspect of it, the fiber optic connectivity, Afghanistan has a unique position. At the same time, when it comes to our direct trade with some of the countries, there are barriers, for example, WAGA, which could be the best in shortest land connectivity for us between Afghanistan and India, in vice versa, is not being utilized. In the same way, of course, it's like tit for tat, the access to Central Asia to Tajikistan, we also have a position that if you're not allowing us to utilize this, how can we? So these are the sorts of things on top of that, tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers which emerge and create uncertainty and the list of sensitive goods, like 30% of the items which could be traded between some of the countries of the South Asia, it makes 33% of all goods, not to reducing it, or lack of resolve or determination, political will to implement the agreements which exist and move forward and take forward the initiatives. These are like the overall implications, these have overall implications on our situation and utilizing the potential of Afghanistan. Okay, thank you very much. We'll come back for another round of questions, but I'd like to now come to Prime Minister Sharma and ask you the same question. How do you see the developments in Nepal? You're laying out some structural reform program, how is that developing, what are the main challenges and how do you see the role of regional cooperation in playing a role in the development of Nepal? And maybe you can also reflect on, you know, it's not just the economic issues obviously, but there's also the security challenges and the conflicts or tensions between countries that are preventing more progressive development of SARC or SAFTA, and given that Nepal is the chairman of SARC this year, you might want to reflect on what you plan to do ahead. Thank you, Madam Pankistu. Nepal has just entered into a new phase, a new state. Nepal is developing and changing very fast, politically and economically. It is developing its friendly ties with its neighbors also, and the regional organizations and all aspects are developing fastly and changing very fastly. Nepal promulgated a new constitution, democratic constitution, and established a federal democratic republican system. And according to the constitution, we had to make some laws and now we completed about the structural changes according to the constitution, to implement the constitution accurately. And now we are focusing our entire endeavors and efforts to the economic development for good governance and economic development. Our motto is prosperous Nepal, happy Nepali, and to naturalize that national desire. We are concentrating ourselves and we are introducing new policies and bringing reforms in all, each and every field of economic experts as well, and social, and we are introducing social justice, improving all sectors of our society, and justice and equality, empowerment of women, and bringing the backward sections of society in the front lines. With these efforts, now we have entered into a new situation where we are optimistic and we are doing our best to expand our role and increase our role in the regional and international affairs also. And on the question of regional cooperation and regional development, South Asia, as you mentioned that Asia is a region of learned people with great civilization. And we have genetic memories of our learned ancestors and we have very excellent diversity from the top of the world, Mount Everest to the Bay of Bangalore and Indian Ocean. And this diversity, within this diversity we have very fertile land and young population, mostly. And that demographic dividend being based on these factors we can develop. And now we have to think about to develop our regional cooperation, regional trade. And for that we have to create such a situation where equality, justice, and win-win situation for all so that we can develop. And no one, no nation, no people will remain back. We are trying to invite investment and use technology and technology transfer and use of technology and develop connectivity between the countries. As well as we are trying to develop our trade and relationship with other Asian countries also. Like we are just a few months before last year we organized fourth summit of BIMStake in Kathmandu and we handed over the GMNC of BIMStake to Sri Lanka. And that means we are connected not only with SAAARC but we are connected with Thailand and Myanmar like countries from where we can connect our trade and other connectivities. And for this we have open up ways and rules and land links and wider ways we are going to open up from India also. And in this way we can develop our regional cooperation and trade. Thank you. Thank you very much. So it's not just about South Asia but also the possibility of South Asia with East Asia. That's I think a very good point. SIGFA I think perhaps you can reflect from the private sector perspective especially given that you are in the telecommunications area. As Prime Minister already mentioned technology is an issue. When you talk about connectivity, digital connectivity is an issue and I think increasingly inclusiveness through technology has become a potential path for development and allowing small countries, more isolated countries to actually leapfrog. And if maybe you can reflect on your experience in South Asia what are the challenges and opportunities. And maybe compare with Southeast Asia because I think this is happening in Southeast Asia. Myanmar is one country which has been able to leapfrog because of digital technology. A lot of questions, try to be concrete. Well we are operating in South Asia, we are in Pakistan, we are in Bangladesh used to be in India until a year ago and had to give up there. Now we have around 110 million plus customers in South Asia and then we are also in Southeast Asia in Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia with another 50 million customers. So I will try to compare a little bit with what I see in South Asia versus Southeast Asia. I think I want to summarize your question in three main points. The first one is digitalization, the second one is harmonization and the third one is predictability. On the digitalization, I think that you shouldn't focus only on physical trade but also digital trade and you should focus on how you could leapfrog development with digital tools. For example in Myanmar as you said we entered Myanmar four years ago, there was a connectivity penetration of less than 10 percent four years after, there is everyone that should have a mobile phone, although they have it, very digital savvy, they are all using internet. We have launched financial services, digital services, we have launched agricultural services and used the digital platform to leapfrog development basically, taking services that are only for the few in the cities out of villages through digital platforms. We do that in Pakistan as well with running a bank, a microfinance bank but also payment solutions. In Bangladesh we do medical solutions also on digital platforms, having four or five million customers using medical insurance and paying for it and also connecting them to the hospitals and to the schools. So if you get right the digital platform, you can use that to really make different types of services, inclusive with the entire population but also in the inter-trade, allowing money transfer, also remittance, but also taking a position in the digital space. To do that, you also have to allow data transfer, which is a major obstacle in most of these countries. You have to be able to do data flows across countries. So that's the first one. The second one is harmonisation. What I see in Southeast Asia is more harmonised taxation, more harmonised regulations, more harmonised frameworks. And if you want to take away some of the barriers that we currently have and if you want to welcome foreign investors like ourselves, the more harmonisation regionally, the better. And the third one is predictability. And it's predictability in terms of investments frameworks for investment protection, allowing foreign investors to have majority stakes in the growth sectors. But it's also predictability in terms of regulations and in terms of some of the macroeconomic factors that you are dependent on. I see that in Southeast Asia, and I see it in East Asia. So I think these are some of the areas that we have seen in comparing those two regions with each other. Thank you. I think those were kind of concrete suggestions for how to have more integration digitally on harmonisation and predictability. And I think your point, Prime Minister, about the demographic dividend. And I think Afghanistan also has a, I think India also, all of the South Asian countries have a large demographic dividend, which makes it very potential for the digital economy to be a potential. Last but not least, Professor Rajan, maybe you can reflect on the developments in India. India is obviously more developed than some of the other South Asian countries. And on the security issue, obviously, India and Pakistan issue has always been one of the biggest issues when we talk about the potential for South Asia economic integration and cooperation. I don't know whether you want to reflect on that, as well as reflect on where India is in its development and how does it see regional cooperation, including that India is already negotiating with East Asia in the RCEP negotiations in the context of we are facing greater uncertainty in the trading environment. So it's actually the time is right now for us to cooperate more with our neighbours in the region. Right. No, it's a good set of questions. Of course, India shares with its neighbours a variety of both strengths and challenges. I think the youth of our population is certainly a potential strength. It can turn into a problem if we don't create enough jobs. And like our neighbours, that's an issue we struggle with. How do we create enough jobs for all the youth that are coming into the labour force? And it's, you know, we've had the fortune, you know, a variety of, you know, good moves by a variety of governments of growing at 7% for the last 25 years. It pales in comparison to only China. Therefore, a lot of people sort of don't pay attention to the fact that this is actually quite extraordinary growth and we've done well. At the same time, we need to do far more because, again, the young population demands performance. And like our neighbours, we have issues with how do we make it easier to do business, your point about harmonisation, predictability and so on. Of those, I think predictability is probably more easy to achieve if we put our minds to it. Harmonisation, I think we're seeing in the European Union, some of the problems with too much harmonisation, a push back against an argument that this is anti-democratic and maybe those issues would come up in the region again. But we can do a lot better in creating a better business environment in allowing for inter-regional production and so on. The question is, how do we start from where we are? And, you know, for those who give up too easily, let's remember that Germany and France were at each other's throat every 20 years. But after the end of World War II, they started with very strong cooperation in steel and coal, which were the areas where they went to war. The rule of the Alsace, this was where they went to war because one side had coal, the other side had steel and combining the two in the coal and steel pact was very important in creating the trust that then led to the European common market and then the European Union. And I wonder, in this chicken and egg problem in the region of how do we build trust, what comes first, trust or connectivity and trade, my guess is in these chicken and egg problems, you've got to start somewhere. And can we start by building trust in a few areas? I think we've already heard from Mr. Abdullah about shared infrastructure, maybe in the power sector, power being produced in one country, sold in another country. That's the way we build trust. We certainly, of course, have already water, which is shared between India and Pakistan, but could we start doing more of these things, increase dependence in small steps so that there is greater trust amongst the two, amongst the various countries. Build out infrastructure. I mean, you can't have connectivity without having infrastructure, which is far better than what we have today. So we need more roads connecting the countries, bridges connecting the countries. A lot of the trade, as you noted earlier, is through ports, when in fact, we have direct borders. Why can't we build more connectivity in railroads and roads? And also be able to traverse each other's country to sell Afghanistan selling in Bangladesh or Nepal using Indian infrastructure. Can we achieve mechanisms by which containers can be taken without being opened along the way? Those are important ways we can use the region. I think part of, we are seeing some attempts at mutual help, which will help increase confidence. For example, when Sri Lanka got into a little bit of financial difficulty, we did a swap arrangement with Sri Lanka, helping them with swap lines. Similarly, we have swap lines with Bhutan, but whether we could have more regional swap lines, which allow for at least a beginning in terms of financial cooperation. Of course, we all have our own natural calamities, earthquakes, and so on. Can we develop regional response forces so that that could be another way of increasing mutual benefit? The longer run, of course, we want cross-border supply chains. For that, we need really low tariffs so that we can send goods back and forth across borders. The issue of policy certainty also comes here. You don't want to set up a cross-border supply chain if you're not sure what policy will be tomorrow in that country. So tariffs have to be low and stay low. Now, I mean, all this is possible. I think we have one very big fear and two critical relationships, which are central to creating more regional integration. The big fear in the region is being swamped by Indian industry, Indian services, and so on. If we do reduce tariffs, if we do open borders, will India dominate? And I think increasingly, as countries are developing their own industry, Bangladesh's textiles now is very, very comparative and will give India a run for its money. So my sense is, as countries develop a little more, some of these fears will get asswaged. But we need to work on this and make sure it is a process by which both countries benefit. And there are ways we can enhance economic activity across, for example, more tourism in Nepal from India easing that process. And vice versa, tourists from Nepal coming into India, ways of escalating the relationship without the fears of trade swamping. And then the two relationships that we need to work on, we've already sort of talked about the missing country in this room, which is Pakistan, that we do need to develop a better understanding between, certainly between India and Pakistan, but also within the region, and embrace them more economically. And outside the region, I think the biggest relationship is China. The China-India relationship, as well as the relationship between the various regional partners in China. How does that play out? And how much does this become hostage to the China-India rivalry? That's the other issue that needs to be discussed. It is possible to have win-win, but it does need a lot of diplomatic, careful attention. Thank you. Thank you for those very useful comments, that little steps, sub-regionals, sectoral building trust. I think I'm afraid I've run out of time for you to have a second round. But I think I'll open up to the audience for questions, and then we can also have another round of questions. So may I now open the floor to the audience who would like to pose any questions to any of our panelists? Here, on there. OK. Is there a mic? Is there a mic? Perhaps the room is small enough. OK, so a lot of what is talked about just now by the panel. It's all very important, but it's all about what the government needs to do. What about business? What role business has to play? Do businesses treat each other? The other country has strategic markets or tactical markets? Do we need to develop a grant in these markets to create a book? So I feel that business also has a very important role to play to increase trade between these countries. Absolutely. That's a very good question. If there are other questions, I'd like to take two or three questions before we ask the panelists to answer. Anybody else would like to ask over here? Thank you very much, moderator. My question goes to the Rajan, Professor Rajan. In regards to India's policy towards its neighboring country, particularly when harmonizing the policies in terms of FTA. You have FTA with Sri Lanka, but the rest of the countries have not been able to sign on it. And how about the FTA, the provisions, how India responds towards it? One question. The second question in regards to you, during your presentation, you mentioned about China's role, how China and India go. That will have a tremendous impact on the region. And in your point of view, because you recently passed, you were also in the RBI and governments. How do you see the China-India policy when it comes to trade? Thank you very much. Anybody else from, like, can't see behind me, so there's anybody from? Oh, OK, one more over there. How do you think the concept of the competitive advantage of South Asia when it comes to low-cost labor will stand in the fourth industrial revolution, especially given jobs being replaced by machines, et cetera? OK, let me allow each one of you to answer. You can answer all three, or you can probably answer the business question. But I think that one question was particularly to Ragu, but the last question was, obviously, to all of you. And also the business question you can also address. So maybe I'll start with Sege. Sure. No, business has definitely a role to play. And that's why it's important for us to be looked upon in a public-private partnership. Every country in South Asia, although also in Southeast Asia, have a digital agenda, for example. They see that digitalization is a driver for economic growth. And I would like, then, the government to invite businesses to see how can we find solutions together and involve the businesses that are long-term and along that also come with regulations which are predictable, which are also giving something back to the government. For example, rather than maximizing upfront payments every time you need some new licenses or spectrum, put some obligations on the business. Put a lot of obligations, for example, for companies like ours to cover the entire population. Put service obligations, such that not only connectivity is being developed, but also services like, as I mentioned, financial inclusion, medical inclusion, agriculture inclusion, and so on and so forth. That is the way where government and businesses can develop things together. But to do that, you need credibility. You need also how do you need regulations and business in friendly protection. Then I also want to comment on the last question. The competitive advantages. I think you have at least two very, very good competitive advantages. One is the young population. It's the young population which are going to be leapfrogging the digital steps. They are going to move into as advanced digital services as they do in my country, Norway, or in other countries. And that's a big opportunity for you. And with that comes also innovation. And what I see in countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, we operate. There's a lot of innovation on coming. New startups are being established. People coming back from the US or from Europe, because they see the opportunities actually for developing on new services on digital platforms. That innovation drive that you have, I think you should utilize and along then with the young population that you have. And if you do this right, you can leapfrog many other countries which are more established. OK. Excellency Abdullah, maybe you can also reflect on what was just mentioned, that we have a young population and also Nepal. But education may be a big change. Absolutely. We are talking about a region where 32% of poor people live here in South Asia. And then we have a young generation, young population demographically, which is an advantage. And also as the question earlier with the advancement in technology, it could turn easily. It could turn into a challenge. Oh, we are living in a completely different world today. It's not like industrial revolution or medieval eras where the changes will be, the pace of changes will be slow, predictable. We are to focus. We are to not. Certain countries have their own advantages. And then we are in this with the speed that technology is moving forward. One is to focus on the daily issues which were part of it were mentioned here. Obstacles, barriers, tariff, non-tariff barriers, sensitive goods, and so on and so forth. And a more leveled playing field for the businesses. But does any government has come up with a policy? We are to focus on education. It's extremely unpredictable and uncertain. We are to focus today. Is it only mathematics, and alphabet, and partly technology, and so on and so forth? In 10 years time, where will we be with the technology? So apart from focusing on the immediate challenges, which comes the role of the private sector in the research and development, as well as otherwise looking ahead towards the future, we need to deal with it with the foresight. This is not only related to the South Asia. This is a global phenomenon. But the teachers, which are teaching today, in 10 years time, they will be lagging behind many leaps. So where is the future of education, information, technology, and all together? These are the questions that the statesmen, as well as business leaders, need to focus. This isn't much. Thank you. Yes, Nancy? My country, Nepal, right now, or until now, is a weaker position in economic terms. But because of the political system and instability, Nepal was left behind. But now there is political stability. And policy also in each and every field policies are stable. So stable policies, clear policies, clear vision, and a stable government, we have. And we are giving importance to not only the public sector, but also the private sector and equally the cooperative sector to create job opportunities for the young people and formal education to the children and vocational and skill training to the youths and other people. Because working population is more than 60% in our country. So it's very important to create new jobs. And a huge number of our young population is outside in search of jobs, et cetera. We want to bring them back. And with skills what they learn, we have given incentives to them. And this week, we are trying to invest and attract and invite the investment from outside also in the productive sector and the sectors with great productivity and great job opportunities. And in this way, we are increasing our growth rate. And right now, I don't want to forecast that will be the fastest growing country within a few years. But that will happen, perhaps. Because we have possibilities. We have young population. We have resources. And we have developed connectivity with China also. And now we have agreements. And now those agreements are also in practice. So through the Chinese territory also we can. And through India also. And waterways also we are opening in the near future. And railway connections we are bringing from Kathmandu to India, Kathmandu to China. And other connectivity also and in the IT sectors also. And in each and every field, we are trying to create job opportunities for the youths and provide trainings for them. And when we are not only giving attention and interest to the development process, but when we are talking about development or we are doing our endeavors, we are concentrating in economic development, and we are equally aware with the environmental questions also. We are contributing a lot on the question of environment because we have mountains. And 45% forest we have. And 15% of land is covered with snow. And those snows, those ice, those mountains have very significant meaning in the climate change, question of climate change, and everything. Because the air, which comes, if from Rajasthan, hot air comes, then near when it comes to near of all mountains it goes to cool. Because mountains are always minus 50 degrees Celsius or like this. And the mountains shoulder a lot meters and meters thick ice and reach us gradually to the rocks and the streams, the rivers. And the famous Ganga river, its entire water, 40% in the rainy season, and 72% of the dry season is our contribution, the policy contributing and that our reverse contribution is there. So we are contributing. And we are conscious about 60% you can understand. 60% of our land, 45% for forest and 15% for ice. 60% of our land is contributing for the climate change. And to maintain the climate, protecting from warming, recharging and protecting from being desertification. In this way, we are aware of the development efforts, development issues, trade issues, and other issues, comprehensively. And we are concentrating all our efforts with concentration on the interest of the people, improvement of the lives of the people. So people concentrate it for the earth and for the people. So our development is balance, conscious, responsible towards the earth, towards the people, and for the future generation as well. Thank you, Prime Minister. I think the emphasis on sustainable development should never be forgotten. Professor Ajahn, there was a question specifically to you and if you want to comment on the force in this. A couple of other issues on business. I mean, apart from business, the social sector could be another way, a non-government way. For example, there are excellent technological institutions around the region. And could we have more sharing of students across borders? The IITs, for example, are a first rate set of institutions. We already take a number of people from different countries. And could there be more sort of opening? So people movement. People movement, understanding also. The youth going into a different country at an early age, they see what it's like. And there's more of an understanding that is built up. On the China-India issue, I think the reality is that I'll wear my academic hat, not wear my Indian hat, that historically, India has seen the region as part of its bailiwick. And of course, China has grown today much bigger than India and is posing an alternative to India. And that, of course, certainly creates tensions in some quarters in India. But also, in those countries, they're saying, why not we have a big alternative to India, which is willing to put money, which is willing to invest in infrastructure? Why not take advantage of that? My sense is it does raise some issues which have to be managed over time. I think it's good to have competition in general. But I think in the longer run, two things will happen. First, India will become relatively bigger than it is now relative to China. China will slow. India will grow. And the competition between the two, four countries in the region, will become more even. India will be more capable of putting resources to work, including infrastructure, which China now promises. Second, I think China itself will have to figure out its relationship with countries and how to make sure that doesn't end in some kind of a client relationship as opposed to a relationship of equals. We've already seen some pushback in certain elements of Pakistan against what is happening in the Pakistan-China relationship, similarly in Sri Lanka. But I think China is also learning in this process how to manage the relationships with countries so that those countries don't become a dependency. They actually are equal. I think all this over time will be good for the region. There will be much stronger sort of relationships, both with India and China. But the region itself will benefit, and we should emphasize that. Lastly, fourth industrial revolution. I mean, it's very easy to imagine artificial intelligence all over the place. None of us have jobs and so on. I think it'll take time. And in that time, we have time to respond. My sense is we're still not doing enough on manufacturing within our countries and in regional manufacturing. I mean, heavy stuff, it's hard to trade long distances. So there's a lot of scope for trading commodities, for trading steel, copper within the region. And so we can go a long way. I think there is an opportunity of trading services within creating sort of regional companies, even which understand the pattern, for example, of local borrowing. How do people in South Asia borrow? And using that kind of information do a better job than the existing banks. For that, we have to allow people to realize the economies of scale within the region. And that means focusing on giving the ability for cross-border FDI and so on. There is a lot of work to do, but there's a lot of opportunities still. Thank you, optimistic note. In the last seven minutes left, I'm just gonna pose one question for all of you. Whenever we talk about South Asia cooperation, we tend to get pessimistic because it's just too challenging. But I think Professor Rajan actually provided a way forward that let's take small steps, whether it's sub-regional cooperation between borders for infrastructure or the liberalization of air services between India and Afghanistan, India and Sri Lanka. These are small steps, but have had a huge impact. If each one of you can think of a quick win that's practical, that's doable, that will have an impact, what would it be? Just thinking what would be a quick win, if you like. And I think specifically to Professor Rajan, ASEAN only progressed when Indonesia, the largest country, actually decided to take a leadership role and have an open policy. So is India in a position to do that? So we'll go around again. His Excellency Abdullah. Have these small steps do matter. Sorry, we have six minutes left, so one and a half minutes each. And this region, the local trade between India and Bangladesh recently, that's an example, it has made a lot of differences. As far as, as in Pakistan is concerned, it's overcoming the issue of WAGA. And also from Pakistan's perspective, their access to Central Asia, to Tajikistan, to a lateral agreement is something that they are seeking. These will be, these will have big impacts on our situation. It's, we have tried in the past, we'll continue to do so. Hopefully on the basis of common interests, we will be able to overcome the challenge and then everybody will benefit. Central Asia and South Asia, Afghanistan included. Thank you. Sikhi? Yeah, my short advice would be financial inclusion. And no financial inclusion for the entire population. That's not going to be happening with existing banks. It will happen on digital platforms because that takes away inefficiency, it increases productivity, and it also take away the gray economy. The second one, it's increased transparency and fight corruption, and that we haven't discussed that. I think that's extremely important if you want to build the national economies to grow, but also if you want to create that this regional cooperation. Thank you. Excellent. Just the chair country of South Asia and Afghanistan, Sark, we are trying our best to develop political understanding between the member countries, Sark, South Asian countries. As well as we are trying our best to develop connectivity like activity or connectivity and electricity or other other connectivity. And we are discussing about tariffs and not tariffs things and we can bring them in favorable situation, I think. And we have to understand it and remove this understanding and develop trust and remove untrust or mistrust among the member countries and the regional countries. And we have to develop our regional trade as we do. And for us like Nepal, we cannot wait for long time. We have to develop very fastly. So everything in every aspect, every side, we are doing things very fast with China, with India, with Bangladesh and with other neighboring countries. As well, we are doing new agreements and implementing them. And internally we are making new policies to achieve our goal of faster development and to control corruption as we've answered. Control corruption and provide service to the people. In this way, our efforts are as the chairman of Sark to hold the Sark Summit in the near future and develop the all-round ties and relationship between the countries in the region. Thank you very much. Professor Rajan. Well, I just want to echo what you said, which is that India is the largest country within the region and to that extent it could play the role that you said Indonesia played, which is not so much lead the process as be willing to make a little more in terms of concessions for people who fear that their opening up will lead to a swamping by Indian industry. Can we make a little more in concession but then see the promotion of trade? There are many places where India has sort of funded the process. Just a very small example at the RBI, we hold the data for the Sark region and we manage that process. They feed the data to us, we host the database but we pay for that. That's an example of the kinds of things that India does but we can certainly do more and we can certainly on the trade side, perhaps allow a process by which tariffs come down but as countries get comfort that they're not being swamped by Indian industry. But I think it's very important for Indian industry also to take steps to push government to start the process of region. And I think as the industrial countries look harder to do business with, this regional focus will increase and so I'm optimistic that we will have a more integrated region, maybe five divorces from now. Thank you and that's a good optimistic note to end on. These things are just three concluding remarks. These things do take time. In the case of ASEAN it took us 23 years before we start with the trust dealing with the political issue before we went into the economic issue. But it did happen with leadership and everybody committed. And I think what I took away very well from today's session is that while we are sorting out all the political difficulties and challenges, many steps can still be taken. Small steps that can actually have big impact, whether it's cross-border infrastructure, cooperation, air services liberalization, so sub-regional, sectoral cooperation. And finally there was a lot of discussion about the role of business, financial inclusion. I think technology will be also another big opportunity for this region which will unite you in a way that you could never predict because the youth are gonna be connected if you are actually doing that. And they may be the one driving the process with the business. And finally, optimistic note from India. So I think that's a very good side. So let me conclude this session. Thank you very much to all the panelists. Let's give them a round of applause. And thank you to the audience.