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