Future Direction for South Asia – Lessons from Europe

ASIA FORUM with Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh H.E. Mohamed Mijarul Quayes

Future Direction for South Asia – Lessons from Europe

Friday, June 1, 2012, 10:00 – 11:30

With the pioneering initiative of Bangladesh, formal regional cooperation in South Asia began in the mid-1980s to increase economic and political cooperation in the region. The regional organization, SAARC, however, is often criticized by analysts for not being able to achieve its objectives. South Asia remains the least integrated region of the world with intra-regional trade remaining below 5%. Although slow, some significant progress has been made in certain areas during the last decade. The pace is faster these days with the democratic governments functioning in all the member countries. However, much needs to be done for the realization of its objectives and to further integrate along the lines of other models of regional cooperation such as the EU. The Foreign Secretary will highlight the areas where progress has been achieved, the prospects of the regional cooperation in the context of the development of the region, as well as add his first hand experience and insights.

H.E. Ambassador Mohamed Mijarul Quayes is the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh. Prior to this, he was Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Russian Federation with concurrent accreditation to Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. He has also served as the Bangladesh High Commissioner to the Maldives from 2005 to 2008. Mijarul Quayes has, among other distinguished assignments, been associated in the drafting of two optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Mijarul Quayes was educated at Dhaka University and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. At Harvard, he studied under Amartya Sen, Robert Nozick, Shirley Williams, Richard Neustad, Ernest May and Robert Vogel. He is a life member of the UN Association of Bangladesh.

Location: ISDP, Västra Finnbodavägen 2, Stockholm-Nacka. For a map and directions, please go here.

To attend: RSVP to Ms. Ebba Mårtensson at emartensson@isdp.eu