The SAARC should plan a billion dollar Infrastructure Fund for developing water and energy projects in areas with high unemployment and poverty rates, a ORF Policy Brief issued on the eve of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Islamabad to attend the 12th SAARC Conference.
The Policy Brief, prepared by a team of highly respected experts in economics and security matters associated with ORF, said India should buy energy from its neighbours at a price which she is willing to offer for importing energy from any other nation in the world.
For the poor and backward regions in the subcontinent, the report said, India should recommend setting up of a $ 1 Billion Fund for water and energy projects.
The document lays emphasis on regional water and energy cooperation projects. It said the realization that water and energy were scarce and long range marginal rates would have to be borne by poorer nations would lend a greater degree of realism to the existing inter-country projects on energy and water.
The report recommended that India as the biggest country in the SAARC community must ensure that the long-range marginal price of electricity was paid to the producer and not subject them to "negotiated" lower prices.
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ORF Policy Brief: Common Futures and Policies
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Text of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech at SAARC
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