What should countries in South Asia Pacific do in an era of globalisation?
Globalisation is inevitable for all countries of the world. Therefore, we need to design proactive strategies whereby the benefits of integration are achieved. Countries in South Asia today are at different stages of integration with global economy as regards trade, foreign investment and currency convertibility. The most noticeable differences in the region are in the area of financial market integration (insurance, banking and capital markets such as bonds or stock markets). Globalisation has to be all-inclusive as the benefits must accrue to smaller nations as well. Do you think the present international financial architecture is supportive of the developing nations? The Bretton Woods institutions have failed to address the issues of development finance, financial and exchange rate stability as well as making globalisation all-inclusive. These have remained as fire-fighting rescue squads. We confront today a situation of asymmetric risk-sharing between the industrial and the develop
