The Covid -induced economic slowdown disrupted the global supply chains which further aggravated by the Russia-Ukrainian war. World’s economies have been experiencing inflation from the high supply of liquidity, resulted in rapid increases in commodity prices, especially prices of fuel, crops, and fertilizers, said speakers at an international conference on Saturday.
They also said that these have created critical challenges for macroeconomic management in developing and emerging economies. In the post-pandemic world’s scenario, when all global powers are rethinking their value chains, South Asian countries must think about further enhancing sub-regional cooperation.
The views were expressed at a conference of South Asian Federation of Accountants(SAFA) on Saturday hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, MP inaugurated the conference as the chief guest while the Adviser to Prime Minister on private industry and investment Salman F Rahman, MP and the State Minister for Planning Dr. Shamsul Alam were present as Special Guests.
Parveen Mahmud FCA, Chairman of the Organising Committee of Conference, ICAB President Md. Shahadat Hossain FCA, H M Hennayake Bandara FCA, President, SAFA also spoke on the occasion. Md. Humayun Kabir FCA, Past President and Council Member, ICAB gave a brief note on the entire conference at the valedictory session.
About 30 delegates from South Asian countries participated in the conference. Among them, Mohammad Al Maruf Khan FCA (Bangladesh) CA. Chandrashekhar Vasant Chitale (India) S M S Sanjaya Bandara FCA (Sri Lanka) and Dr. Aditi Haldar, Director, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), CA. Sushil Kumar Goyal (India), CMA Raju Iyer Pichumani, (India), Awais Yasin FCMA, (Pakistan), Prof. Lakshman R. Watawala (Sri Lanka), Nuwan Withanage FCA (Sri Lanka) also spoke on the occasion.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, the development of Bangladesh is an example to the many countries. By 2026 the country will be graduated to better developed economy. To sustain the development growth, we need to boots up our trade among the countries in this region, therefore, regional connectivity is a must.
There is no shortage of rationale for increasing regional trade cooperation among South Asian countries, trade between these countries has been steadily increasing especially over the last decade, said former Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman while he was presenting the keynote paper on Regional Connectivity for Sustainable Growth.
Prof Dr. Javed Siddiqui, Alliance Manchester Business School - Accounting and Finance division, UK, keynote speaker of technical session-one said, sustainable finance means ‘sustainable’ investment like investments in renewable energy.
Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, GoB moderated the technical session two where Sabbir Ahmed FCA, Council Member-ICAB and Partner, Hoda Vasi Chowdhury & Co., Chartered Accountants presented the another keynote paper on Current Trend of Regional Economy: Role of Professional Accountancy Organizations (PAO)”
ICAB President Md. Shahadat Hossain FCA said, to ensure growth, we need to focus on sustainability reporting and green finance. The accountancy profession has always faced the challenges of various complex situations.