The recently concluded conference on South Asia, held at the United Nations University during an especially tense week in that region, confirmed three things.
First, peace and security are symbiotic. Neither will be possible in South Asia without the other. Foreign investment will not flow into the region in large volumes unless there is a more secure investment climate, as well as other improvements (such as infrastructure) to maximize profits. Domestic political volatility and regional enmities vitiate efforts to attract large-scale foreign investment. At the same time, economic growth, whose benefits are felt by the masses through active programs of poverty reduction and redistribution of wealth and assets, will help to stabilize internal and interstate conflicts by providing much needed ballast.
Second, the pivot point for South Asian regional relations is India-Pakistan rivalry, whose intensity waxes and wanes but whose basic parameters have remained as frozen as the snow on the Himalayan heights.
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