Potential and prospects for regional energy trade in the South Asia Region

Abstract

After decades of insignificant volumes of cross-country electricity trade and absence of any trade in natural gas through pipelines among the countries in the South Asia, political leaders and businessmen of the region have recently evinced a great deal of interest and enthusiasm in cross border electricity and gas trade, not only within South Asia but also with its neighbors in the west (Central Asia and Iran) and in the east (Myanmar). This brief desk study welcomes this political commitment and advocates the rapid commencement (in the short term) of such trade in the simpler bilateral form, making the best use of the immediately available opportunities and the expansion and development of such trade into a more integrated regional energy market.