Cross-border Infrastructure
South Asia Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ)
The South Asia Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ) was launched in April 1997 by the Foreign Ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN). The Ninth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on May 1997 in Male, Maldives endorsed SAGQ as a subregional initiative under SAARC. The goals of SAGQ are:
- to create an enabling environment for accelerating economic growth;
- to overcome infrastructural constraints;
- to make optimal use of and further develop the complementarities in the subregion, and
- to develop economic and institutional linkages and nodal points for facilitating cooperation on policy framework and project implementation.
SAGQ aims to accelerate sustainable economic development among the member countries. The targeted sectors are multimodal transportation and communication, energy, trade and investment facilitation and promotion, tourism, optimal utilization of natural resource endowments, and environment. The Asian Development Bank was invited to help in the implementation of SAGQ cooperation and responded through the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) initiative.
Agreements
- Declaration of the 10th SAARC Summit ColomboSouth Asian Association for Regional Cooperation - SAARC31 Jul 1998
- Ninth SAARC Summit Male DeclarationSouth Asian Association for Regional Cooperation - SAARC14 May 1997
Studies and Research
- Transit and trade barriers in Eastern South Asia: a review of the transit regime and performance of strategic border-crossingsPrabir De, Abdur Rob Khan, and Sachin ChaturvediUnited Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific1 Jun 2008
- Impact and benefits of power trading in the South Asia Growth Quadrangle Sari-energy.com1 Jan 2005
- Economic and political relations between Bhutan and neighbouring countriesCentre for Bhutan Studies1 Apr 2004
- South-Asia Growth Quadrangle cooperation in the energy sectorChander, S.Asian Development Bank2 Nov 2000
Meetings
- 2nd Meeting of Foreign Secretaries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN)17 Jul 1998