“India’s Leadership Necessary For Regional Economic Integration”

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If former Foreign Minister Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani is to be believed, there is unwillingness among the South Asian Countries to form a strategic vision of economic cooperation. Speaking in a one-day conference on Indo-Nepal trade and investment at Observer Research Foundation (ORF) on 22 April, 2013, Dr Lohani said that the economic cooperation should allow the gravitational force of the large and dynamic Indian economy to act as a lever to pull all other member states in the path of collective prosperity. 

He further said that India should take the lead in the economic integration of the region and carry the smaller states along with it towards the path of economic prosperity. Viewed from a gravity model perspective developed by economists and geographers, India is the most important country in the region, Dr Lohani said. He further explained that the size of the country, the dynamism of its economy and the distance factor involved imply that smaller South Asian countries will find the gravitational pull of the Indian economy a vital element in their quest for prosperity.

The conference was organised as part of the joint study ORF has undertaken along with the South Asian Institute of Management (SAIM), Nepal, on Indo-Nepal trade and investment. 

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