Report

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QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN SOUTH ASIA
reasons why these countries should be undertaking
wider and deeper commitments than they would do
under GATS. First, as the group is small – having just
seven players – as compared to the entire WTO
membership there is higher probability of early harvest
thereby benefiting from the liberalisation fairly quickly.
Second, the real or perceived risk of opening up of the
services sector would be drastically reduced at the
regional level as compared to that at a multilateral level.
This scenario will be more conducive particularly for
small countries and LDCs which are otherwise reluctant
to open up their services sector under GATS.
The study intends to provide an assessment of the
regulatory requirements that impede import of services
in these five sectors in each of the countries. It also
examines countries’ schedules of commitments under
GATS and the initial and revised offers submitted during
the ongoing services negotiations. In construction and
related services, higher education and tourism, while
India, Pakistan, and Nepal have made/offered relatively
high level of commitments and Sri Lanka has not
offered any substantial improvement over its limited
commitments, Bangladesh and the Maldives have
neither made liberal commitments nor have they yet
proposed to do so. However, Bhutan, an acceding WTO
member country, is likely to undertake liberal commitments.
Overall, the existing regime in these countries
is more liberal than what has been committed/proposed
under GATS. In the light of this, the study argues that
SAFTA provides an ideal forum to undertake wider and
deeper commitments without apprehensions regarding
the adverse implications of liberalisation.
As some trade is already taking place, any move to
reinforce the process is likely to bring about large
positive externalities owing to the nature of these
services but for that to happen, the Mode 4 regime
ought to be made conducive to the extent possible to
ensure equity in the increased trade. The main thrust
of the study, however, is on developing MRAs that seem
essential to ensure market access for Mode 4 and given
the level of homogeneity this region has, this should
not be too ambitious a task. Finally, the study
unequivocally argues that by integrating with other
countries smaller countries gain more. While larger
countries have economies of scale and might not bank
on their smaller partners for import or export, the
smaller countries need the support of larger countries
to overcome their supply constraints apart from seeking
market access for their exports, hence they are more
likely to gain from imports as well as exports.
With respect to health services, there are very few
regulatory constraints to investments in the SAARC
countries. The regulatory framework in each country
is also conducive to arrangements for recognition of
foreign medical and dental qualifications. There are
no regulatory constraints on movement of patients from
one country to another for treatment. However, there
are several other issues pertaining to supply of services
under each mode, which need to be addressed. The
study puts forward the following recommendations to
encourage trade in health services:
• Ensure that the relevant medical, dental and nursing
councils from each SAARC country recognise
medical and dental qualifications provided in other
SAARC countries: This aspect needs to be addressed
at the national level in each country.
• Facilitate registration with the relevant medical,
dental and nursing councils.
• MRA among the relevant medical and dental
councils in the SAARC region, recognising the
principles of recognition of qualifications and registration
will formally concretise these aspects. Such
an MRA should also address standards of service
delivery.
• Ensure portability of insurance coverage and
recognition of foreign medical degrees by insurance
companies: This aspect needs to be addressed at
the national level in each SAARC member.
• Provide expedited medical visas. ‘Medical visas’ as
a separate category is recognised under the Indian
regulations pertaining to immigration and visas.
Expedited mechanisms for consideration and grant
of medical visas between all SAARC members need
to be considered.
• Enter into MRAs for recognition of qualifications
and registration with the relevant medical council:
In order to provide a more concrete framework for
services under Mode 1, recognition of qualifications
and criteria and recognition of standards of service
delivery, are principal aspects that need to be
addressed in an MRA.
With respect to the telecommunications sector, the
benefits are no longer thought to be confined only to
the sector. The role of telecommunications as essential
to the facilitation of international trade, economic
development, and the enrichment of citizens’ lives has
become widely accepted. Many emerging economy
governments which joined in making GATS commit-