Leaders call for greater cooperation in South Asia, Southeast Asia at India Economic Summit '19

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Heng Swee Keat called for improved regional cooperation in South Asia and Southeast Asia during the closing session of the India Economic Summit 2019 this afternoon.

"We have always thought about this because of our geographical situation in the middle of an East-West axis connecting the regions," Sheikh Hasina said, as per an official release.

Initiatives might eventually include a Trans-Asian highway and railway, she suggested and said, "Now I give more importance to connectivity with Southeast Asia."

The Prime Minister called attention to the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM), the multilateral trade and investment organization.

Hasina expressed her desire for "shared prosperity," a concept echoed verbatim by Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore. "We need to create a framework for cooperation," said Keat.

Keat believed that South Asia-Southeast Asia can become a "great area" for the development of cutting-edge technology. Extending beyond digital technology and artificial intelligence, this should include research and development into new agricultural techniques, he added.

An official release listed a number of meeting outcomes, including that drones will soon deliver life-saving medical supplies and vaccines to rural communities in Telangana.

Another outcome as per the release was that people in Punjab will soon be driving down a 100km electric vehicle corridor, which is part of a sustainable pilot project with the World Economic Forum's Moving India initiative.

"To support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative ending open defecation, the Forum's Young Global Leaders community will mobilize more than $3.5 million in resources to finance the urban sanitation ecosystem in 10 Indian cities, in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI) and the Forum's Global Shapers," the release said.

The World Economic Forum's 33rd India Economic Summit took place in New Delhi from October 3 to 4 under the theme 'Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World'.

"The two-day meeting convened more than 800 leaders from government, the private sector, academia and civil society with the aim of accelerating the adoption throughout South Asia of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and making the most of the region's distinctive demographic dividends," the release added.