LUMS Random Walk Economics Society (RWES) participated in the 12th Annual South Asian Economics Students' Meet (SAESM) which was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from April 3 to 5, 2016.
Muhammad Umer Zahid (Vice President, LUMS RWES) won the Best Research Paper Award in the theme "Intra-Regional Trade and Exchange as a Key Strategy for Alleviating Rural Poverty." The title of his paper was "Measuring the Impact of Intra-Regional Trade on Urban-Rural Income Gap in Pakistan.” Furthermore, he was also declared the joint winner of the Haq-Sen Award, which is awarded to the best research paper of the conference across all six themes. In addition to this, Muhammad Asad Shoaib qualified for the final round of the Budding Economist Competition.
The idea behind SAESM, which started in 2003, was to provide a platform for the South Asian undergraduate students of economics to interact with each other, exchange ideas, and discuss economic issues in an out of class environment. Participants either write a research paper and present it, or take part in a multiple round competition to contest for the honour of ‘The Budding Economist of South Asia.’
Countries that participated in the Meet were India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan.
This year, the Pakistani student delegation participated in the conference under the supervision of LUMS Economics faculty members, Dr. Syed Turab Hussain (SAESM Country Coordinator) and Dr. Husnain Fateh. The delegation of ten students consisted of seven students from LUMS, two from Lahore School of Economics (LSE), and one from Institute of Business Administration (IBA).
The delegation details are as follows:
1. Osama Sajid (Team leader and President LUMS RWES)
2. Muhammad Umer Zahid (LUMS)
3. Areeba Iftikhar (LUMS)
4. Maham Ashfaq (LUMS)
5. Abubakr Ayesh (LUMS)
6. Annum Aftab (IBA)
7. Mohammad Asad Shoaib (LUMS)
8. Muhammad Arslan Javed (LUMS)
9. Beenish Amir (LSE)
10. Maham Bokhari (LSE)
This year’s meet was supported by the World Bank which has been associated with SAESM since 2006. World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka, Francoise Clottes, and World Bank’s lead economist, Sanjay Kathuria, addressed the delegates at the opening and closing ceremony respectively.
Professor Sirimal Amberathne and students of University of Colombo did an exceptional job in organising the conference with a very enjoyable retreat that took students to many places in Sri Lanka. The Pakistani students played their role as country ambassadors and engaged wholeheartedly in creating an atmosphere of friendship and cooperation. Not only did all the students perform exceptionally well in their respective academic events, Pakistan was at the forefront of all social events, thus contributing to making SAESM a great platform for regional integration.
