SAARC

(SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL

COOPERATION)

INTRODUCTION
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) comprises
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. SAARC
is a manifestation of the determination of the peoples of South Asia to work
together towards finding solutions to their common problems in a spirit of
friendship, trust and understanding and to create an order based on mutual respect,
equity and shared benefits. The main goal of the Association is to accelerate the
process of economic and social development in member states, through joint action
in the agreed areas of cooperation. The 11 stated areas of cooperation are
agriculture; education, culture, and sports; health, population, and child welfare;
the environment and meteorology; rural development (including the SAARC Youth
Volunteers Program); tourism; transport; science and technology; communications;
women in development; and the prevention of drug trafficking and drug abuse. The
charter stipulates that decisions are to be unanimous and that bilateral and
contentious issues are to be avoided.

HISTORY

The idea of co-operation in South Asia was discussed in at least three conferences:
the Asian Relations Conference held in New Delhi on April 1947; the Baguio
Conference in the Philippines on May 1950; and the Colombo Powers Conference
held in Sri Lanka in April 1954.
In the ending years of the 1970s, the seven inner South Asian nations that included
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka agreed upon
the creation of a trade bloc and to provide a platform for the people of South Asia
to work together in a spirit of friendship, trust and understanding. President Ziaur
Rahman later addressed official letters to the leaders of the countries of the South

Asia, presenting his vision for the future of the region and the compelling
arguments for region.[7] During his visit to India in December 1977, President
Ziaur Rahman discussed the issue of regional cooperation with the then Indian
Prime Minister, Morarji Desai. In the inaugural speech to the Colombo Plan
Consultative Committee which met in Kathmandu also in 1977, King Birendra of
Nepal gave a call for close regional cooperation among South Asian countries in
sharing river waters. After the USSR's intervention in Afghanistan, the efforts to
established the union was accelerated in 1979 and the resulting rapid deterioration
of South Asian security situation. Responding to the President Ziaur Rahman and
King Birendra's convention, the officials of the foreign ministries of the seven
countries met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981. The Bangladesh's
proposal was promptly endorsed by Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives but
India and Pakistan were sceptical initially. The Indian concern was the proposals
reference to the security matters in South Asia and feared that President Zia
Redmans proposal for a regional organization might provide an opportunity for
new smaller neighbors to renationalized all bilateral issues and to join with each
other to gang up against India. Pakistan assumed that it might be an Indian strategy
to organize the other South Asian countries against Pakistan and ensure a regional
market for Indian products, thereby consolidating and further strengthening Indias
economic dominance in the region.
However, after a series of quiet diplomatic consultations between South Asian
foreign ministers at the UN headquarters in New York from August to September
1980, it was agreed that Bangladesh would prepare the draft of a working paper for
discussion among the foreign secretaries of South Asian countries. The foreign
secretaries of the inner seven countries again delegated a Committee of the Whole
in Colombo on September 1981, which identified five broad areas for regional

cooperation. New areas of co-operation were added in the following years. In

1983, the international conference held by Indian Minister of External Affairs P.V.
Narasimha Rao in New Delhi, the foreign ministers of the inner seven countries
adopted the Declaration on South Asian Association Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) and formally launched the Integrated Programme of Action (IPA)
initially in five agreed areas of cooperation namely, Agriculture; Rural
Development; Telecommunications; Meteorology; and Health and Population
Activities. Officially, the union was established in Dhaka with Kathmandu being
union's secretariat-general.
The first SAARC summit was held in Dhaka on 78 December 1985 and hosted by
the President of Bangladesh Hussain Ershad.[8] The declaration signed by King of
Bhutan Jigme Singye, President of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq, Prime Minister of India
Rajiv Gandhi, King of Nepal Birendra Shah, President of Sri Lanka JR
Jayewardene, and President of Maldives Maumoon Gayoom.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The SAARC is the manifestation of the determination of the people of South Asia
to institutionalize cooperation to solve their common problems in a spirit of
friendship, trust and understanding and also to create an order based on mutual
respect, equity and shared benefits. The main goal of the association is to
accelerate the process of economic and social development in the member states
through joint action in the agreed areas of cooperation. The adoption of the Charter

of SAARC at the Dhaka Summit in December 1985 was itself a clear indication of
the priority and functions assigned to it.

NEED OF AN ORGANISATION/ASSOCIATION
Unlike earlier regional groups, recent ones were launched with elaborate structural
set up. The reason was that they are supposed to perform diverse, yet specialized
functions for member nations. The nature of relations among nations is fast
changing. Today, it has become far more complex operating under the influence of
varied dimensions of conflict cooperation, defence security, commerce and
culture etc. Therefore, for any meaningful relations, organizations are deliberately
created and restructured to achieve desired goals out of such relationships. An
organization is a fairly permanent system designed to achieve limited objectives
through the coordinated activities of their members. The growing complexity of
modern life has necessitated establishment of an organization because it is based
on effectively, efficiency and optimal utility of resources when they are becoming
scarce due to rising demands.
The earlier initiatives for regional cooperation in Asia and Africa were failed
because of many reasons. One of the important reason was absence of
organizational set up. Their momentum waned away in the absence of an
organization which could have consolidated at least minimal initial gains.
Therefore, several international/regional organizations, including the SAARCs
structural organization launched with detailed bureaucratic structure having
potential for continuity, precision, speed.and to eliminate personal, irrational
and emotional elements from official business for the achievement of their goals.
Their past experiences showed that a vague purpose and irrational decisions cause

conflict instead of cooperation. Hence, there was need for an organization which
imparts meaning, purpose and direction by
Combining its personnel with its resources, weaving together its leaders, experts,
workers, machines and raw materials. Continually evaluates performance And
tries to adjust itself in order to achieve its goals
Therefore, precision of purpose and its achievement depends upon the nature of
institutional arrangements to evolve a group. Moreover, the level of success is
proportionately related to the amount of fair play or implementation of basic
principles of modern administration planning, moral( political will), division of
labour, coordination and control etc. This is widely Illustrated and exemplified in
the case of the SAARC.

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
The Charter lays down the institutional framework of SAARC defining its
administrative and operational machinery. It provides for a pyramidal structure
with summit at the apex, supported by the Council of Ministers (Foreign Ministers
of the Member states) and the standing Committee comprising of Foreign
Secretaries of the Member States. A network of Technical Committees or each of
the agreed areas of cooperation provides the base structure of the administrative
organization. The Council of Ministers is to function as a cabinet, referring matters
to the Summit for decisions and further, to carry them out through the standing
Committee. The standing Committee is thus the important executive agency for the
decisions taken by the council of Ministers and the Summit. There is also a
programme committee to monitor the performance of Technical Committees.
Institutional arrangements as discussed above are delineated under articles III to
VIII of the SAARC Charter.

These are explained as follows

CHARTER OF SAARC
The Charter of SAARC is reaffirmation of the basic principles of international law
and cooperation. Therefore, peace, progress and prosperity have been the major
areas of emphasis of the SAARC with an undertone of political and security
concerns. The basic driving force behind the SAARC establishment of the SAARC
was the desire of the seen contracting states for promoting peace, stability, amity
and progress in the region through strict adherence to the principles of the UN
Charter and non-alignment. The SAARC Charter also announces that, the states of
South Asia are conscious that in an increasingly interdependent world, the
objectives of peace, freedom, social justice and economic prosperity are best
achieved in this region by fostering mutual understanding, good- neighbourly
relations and meaningful cooperation.

OBJECTIVES
The SAARC Charter enunciates eight-fold objectives of the association. According
to Article I of the Charter, these objectives of the association are a) To promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their
quality of life;
b) To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in
the region and to provide all individuals an opportunity to live in dignity and to
realize their full potentials;
c) To promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of South
Asia;
d) To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one anothers
problems;
e) To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social,
cultural and technical and scientific fields;
f) To strengthen cooperation with other developing countries,

g) To strengthen cooperation among themselves in international forum on matters

of common interest, and
h) To co- operate with international and regional organizations with similar aims
and purposes.

MEMBERS AND OBSERVERS

Economic data is sourced from the International Monetary Fund, current as of

April 2015, and is given in US dollars.
The first secretary general was Abul Hasan (16 January 1985 - 5 October 1989)
The first female secretary general was Fathima Dhayana Sied (Maldives) The first

secretary general from India was Kant Kishore Bhargava (17 Oct 1989 - 31 Dec
1991)
The member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
SAARC was founded by seven states in 1985. In 2005, Afghanistan began
negotiating their accession to SAARC and formally applied for membership on the
same year. The issue of Afghanistan joining SAARC generated a great deal of
debate in each member state, including concerns about the definition of South
Asian identity because Afghanistan is a Central Asian country.
The SAARC member states imposed a stipulation for Afghanistan to hold a general
election; the non-partisan elections were held in late 2005. Despite initial
reluctance and internal debates, Afghanistan joined SAARC as its eighth member
state in April 2007.
POTENTIAL FUTURE MEMBERS
Myanmar has expressed interest in upgrading its status from an observer to a full
member of SAARC. Russia has applied for observer status membership of
SAARC. Turkey applied for observer status membership of SAARC in 2012.
South Africa has participated in meetings.

States with observer status include Australia, China, the European Union, Iran,
Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea and the United States.
On 2 August 2006, the foreign ministers of the SAARC countries agreed in
principle to grant observer status to three applicants; the US and South Korea (both
made requests in April 2006), as well as the European Union

ACHIEVEMENTS

1. SAFTA
A Free Trade Agreement confined to goods, but excluding all services like
information technology. Agreement was signed to reduce customs duties of all
traded goods to zero by the year 2016.
2. SAPTA
South Asia Preferential Trading Agreement for promoting trade amongst the
member countries came into effect in 1995.
3. SAARC visa exemption decided that certain categories of dignitaries should be
entitled to a Special Travel document, which would exempt them from visas within
the region.
4. Greater cultural co-operation
5. Advantages of Least Developed Countries -It has provided forum for bilateral
and regional agreements to the small poor nations for collaboration among
themselves for development.

SAPTA
(South Asian preferential trade agreement)

INTRODUCTION
1. The Agreement on SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) was
negotiated in the year 1993 by the 7 developing countries that were members of
South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC).
2. The declared objectives of the SAPTA are:
a. To promote and sustain mutual trade, and
b. To develop economic co-operation among developing countries (members of
Group of 77).

PRINCIPLES

SAPTA shall be governed in accordance with the following principles :

1. SAPTA shall be based and applied on the principles of overall reciprocity and
mutuality of advantages in such a way as to benefit equitably all Contracting
States, taking into account their respective levels of economic and industrial
development, the pattern of their external trade, trade and tariff policies and
systems:
2. SAPTA shall be negotiated step by step. improved and extended in successive
stages with periodic reviews ;
3. The special needs of the Least Developed Contracting States shall be clearly
recognised and concrete preferential measures in their favour should be agreed
upon ;
4. SAPTA shall include all products manufactures and commodities in their raw.
semi-processed and processed forms.

SAFTA
(South Asian free trade Area)
The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is an agreement reached on 6 January
2004 at the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad, Pakistan. It created a free trade
area of 1.6 billion people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (as of 2011, the combined population is 1.8 billion
people). The seven foreign ministers of the region signed a framework agreement
on SAFTA to reduce customs duties of all traded goods to zero by the year 2016.
The SAFTA agreement came into force on 1 January 2006 and is operational
following the ratification of the agreement by the seven governments. SAFTA
requires the developing countries in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) to
bring their duties down to 20 percent in the first phase of the two-year period
ending in 2007. In the final five-year phase ending 2012, the 20 percent duty will
be reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts. The least developed nations in South
Asia (Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Maldives) have an additional
three years to reduce tariffs to zero. India and Pakistan ratified the treaty in 2009,
whereas Afghanistan as the 8th member state of the SAARC ratified the SAFTA
protocol on the 4th of May 2011

Countries under south Asian free trade area

The Agreement on SAARC Preferential trading Arrangement (SAPTA) was signed
on 11 April 1993 and entered into force on 7 December 1995, with the desire of the
Member States of SAARC (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri
Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives) to promote and sustain mutual trade
and economic cooperation within the SAARC region through the exchange of
concessions.
The basic principles underlying SAFTA are as under;
1.Overall reciprocity and mutuality of advantages so as to benefit equitably all
Contracting States, taking into account their respective level of economic and
industrial development, the pattern of their external trade, and trade and tariff
policies and systems;
2. Negotiation of tariff reform step by step, improved and extended in successive
stages through periodic reviews;
3. Recognition of the special needs of the Least Developed Contracting States and
agreement on concrete preferential measures in their favour;
4. Inclusion of all products, manufactures and commodities in their raw, semiprocessed and processed forms.

Purpose of the agreement

The purpose of SAFTA is to encourage and elevate common contract among the
countries such as medium and long term contracts. Contracts involving trade
operated by states, supply and import assurance in respect of specific products etc.

It involves agreement on tariff concession like national duties concession and nontariff concession.

Objective
The objective of the agreement is to promote competition in the area and to
provide equitable benefits to the countries involved. It aims to benefit the people of
the country by bringing transparency and integrity among the nations. SAFTA was
also formed in order to increase the level of trade and economic cooperation
among the SAARC nations by reducing the tariff and barriers and also to provide
special preference to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) among the SAARC
nations.

Instruments
Following are the instrument involved in SAFTA:

Trade Liberalisation Programme

Rules of Origin
Institutional Arrangements
Consultations and Dispute Settlement Procedures
Safeguard Measures
Any other instrument that may be agreed upon.

REGIONAL CENTRES41
a) SARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC):
- SAIC, the first regional institution, was established in Dhaka in 1988.
Its governing Board formulates policy matters, approves projects,
recommends budget estimates, monitors and evaluates administrative

and overall activities of SAIC. The SAIC Director is the Member

Secretary of the Board.
b) SAARC Tuberculosis Centre (STC) :
- It is located at Thimpi, Bhaktapur (Nepal). It became operational in
mid July 1992. The centre smain objective is to work towards the
prevention and control of tuberculosis in the SAARC region.
Institutional structure of the Centre consists of a Governing Board. A
Director appointed to head the centreis responsible for the
implementation of the programmes and activities of the centre.
c) SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC) :
- SDC has been established at the Indian National Scientific
Documentation Centre (INSDOC) in New Delhi in May 1994. The
SAARC Documentation system (SDS)comprises the Central facility
i.e. SDC and its sub-units in Member States which act as the centre
repositories. In fulfilling the need for ready access to information, the
SDC focuses on data in Member state and international database in
the areas of biological, physical, chemical, engineering and life
sciences as well as in development matters.
d) SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) :
- The SMRC was inaugurated on 2 January 1995 in Dhaka. The Centre
concentrates primarily on the research aspect of weather forecasting
and monitoring. In addition to monitoring weather phenomena, the
centre is also engaged in developing a networking system among
member states.
e) SAARC Human Resource development Centre (SHRDC):

- SHDC has been established in Islamabad with an objective to

undertaker research, training and dissemination of information on
human resources development issues. The centre aims at developing
human resources in Member States, inter-alia, in social, economic,
educational and environmental fields. The Centre will have a
Governing Board Comprising Members from all SAARC Countries.
-

ISSUES
POLITICAL ISSUES
Lasting peace and prosperity of the Indian subcontinent has been elusive because
of the various ongoing conflicts and in the region. Political dialogue is often
conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings which have refrained from
interfering in the internal matters of its member states. During the 12th and 13th
SAARC summits, extreme emphasis was laid upon greater co-operation between
the SAARC members to fight terrorism.

Current Status of Regional Cooperation in Different Area Let us briefly touch upon
the salient features of the current SAARC agenda; primarily to highlight the
distance that the Association has travelled in spite of these do give further
testimony to the objective merits of the SAARC paradigm in face of political
problem.
The key issues of focus on SAARCs agenda are:

Poverty alleviation and developmental activities

SAARC Development Fund
Trade, economy and finance
Transport and intra-regional connectivity
Narcotics, drugs, terrorism and legal matters
Environment, forestry and prevention of natural disasters
Agriculture and rural development
Energy
Social development: including health, education, women and children

In the age of liberalization and deregulation, trade promotion remains one fertile
field for the growth of regionalism. Therefore, SAFTA does constitute a vital
forward step. Optimism about SAFTA rests on stakeholders in the broader public
domain outside governments. However, policy institutions norms-setting and legal
frameworks to facilitate broader private sector stakes in regional trade have
occupied the main focus so far. The entire gamut of trade relations in South Asia
comprises not only policies about tariff and nontariff barriers, customs
harmonization and harmonization of standards, but also physical transit and
transport infrastructure, border controls, banking and investment. Success in trade,
transit and transport would have its impact all along the value chain. Therefore,
trade, transport and related investment remain keys to SAARCs success.

Limitations of SAARC
1. Domination of India
India has 70% area amongst all SAARC countries. Also remaining small countries
does not share border with each others except for Pakistan- Afghanistan.
2. Political differences
The political differences had deep negative impact on the political will to realize
the economic cooperation and integration.
3. Inequality among members
The member states except India have still not reached the take-off stage to be able
to pursue the program of economic integration and collaboration.

4. The South Asia Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) was signed in the 7th
summit at Dhaka in April 93, but it has not yet been operationalized. The proposal
to establish South Asian Food Reserve and South Asian Development Fund have
also met the same fate. Similarly declarations on enhancing political cooperation
and promotion of mutual trust and understanding reiterated in each summit have
registered limited success.
5. SAARC charter excludes bilateral and contentious issues discussion on forum
6. Obstructionist policies of Pakistan has created problems in economic
cooperation
7. No progress in road and rail connectivity which is obstacle for trade.
8. Most of the countries are poor except for India and lack full fledged democratic
structure.

THE CRITICAL ANALYSIS

SAARC SUCCESS
Over the last 25 years, despite extremely difficult political circumstances,
SAARC has managed to create situations, institutions and forums where
Heads of State have had to shake each others hands and go into talks
together.
SAARC has tackled important topics for the region such as a social charter,
development agreements and even the sensitive subject of fighting terrorism.

 The food and development banks, Agreement on Transportation, Energy are

important steps in the right direction.
Exchanges in the areas of civil society and science have become one of the
pillar of South Asian integration efforts.

SAARC FAILURES
In its 30 years of existence, SAARC failed to hold 11 annual summits for
political reasons, both at the bilateral and internal levels. The last summit in
Kathmandu was held after a gap of three years.
The intra-regional trade of SAARC amounted to $40.5 billion in 2011,
which constitutes just 5% of member countries trade. The number pales into
insignificance when compared with the volume of trilateral trade between
member-countries of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
(the US, Canada and Mexico) which hit $1 trillion in 2011.
While different regions of the world have progressed even to monetary
union, SAARC has failed to even come up with a free trade agreement.
Even in the Kathmandu Summit 2014, there were three connectivity
agreements on road, rail and energy, to be endorsed by the eight SAARC
leaders. Only one of these - on energy - has been signed.

Reasons for failure

Weak Cultural Identities
The South Asian Region comprises countries sharing common history,
heritage and culture. The horrors of divisions and sub-divisions have
however created fissures. These fissures are commonly articulated through
the ideas of distinct cultures. Pakistan wants to assert itself as Islamic State
and calls India a Hindu State. The debates regarding identity are similarly
going on in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The pursuit of maintaining distinct
cultural identity by every country has not allowed the region to come
together.

 Conflict between India and Pakistan

Rivalry between India and Pakistan, the two largest members of SAARC,
has hovered hugely on SAARC. The rivalry continues to restrain SAARC
from functioning as a sub-regional organization.
India's Size - India is a preponderant country both in terms of size and
economy, in the SAARC Region. Indias neighboring countries have often
felt insecure about Indias ambitions. Thus, any attempts to secure free trade
area are met with the concerns of Indian businesses disrupting the
indigenous business of countries. This in turn leads countries to use SAARC
as an anti-India platform.

Indian Foreign Policy

Indian Foreign Policy actions 1971 war, Indo-Sri Lanka Accord continue
to haunt the neighboring countries. India has not forcefully articulated South
Asian Vision; even the progressive ideas like the Gujral Doctrine have not
been implemented on ground.
Unresolved Border and Maritime Issues
The region is still beset with many unresolved border and maritime issues.
These unresolved borders have led to problems of Terrorism, Refugee Crisis,
Smuggling, Narco-Trade.

The unresolved issues continue to mar

cooperative relations.
Role of External Powers, especially China

Indias ambitions in the region criss cross with Chinas ambitions to have an
influence on the region. China has in past decade strengthened its relations
with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. This has led to a trust deficit in the grouping.
SAARC Charter
Article X(2) of the SAARC Charter mandates that decisions, at all levels in
SAARC, are only of multilateral issues, and only those issues are for
inclusion in the agenda in a SAARC summit meeting on the basis of
unanimity. The SAARC platform thus cannot be used to resolve bilateral
issues; this has undermined the scope and potential of SAARC.

CHALLENGES
South Asian regionalism has been suffering due to bilateral tensions and
differences between the member countries. The region has a long history of
conflicts, especially between India and Pakistan who have fought four wars since
1947. Though the India-Pakistan rivalry is often blamed for SAARCs failure, the
reasons are in fact deeper and structural in nature. The geographical, ethnic,
historical and political factors have gridlocked SAARC and will persist unless
India adopts proactive confidence-building measures.
One of the major reasons for the failure of SAARC is that one of its members is
much larger than all of its other members put together. India accounts for over 60
per cent of SAARCs geographcical area, population, GDP, foreign exchange, gold
reserves and armed forces. The huge resource and power imbalance generates an

acute sense of insecurity among the member countries. Moreover, its relationship
with the second largest member, Pakistan, causes polarisation instead of regional
harmony owing to their historical conflict. Similarly, India shares boundaries (land
and/or maritime) with all the member countries while they, (barring Pakistan and
Afghanistan) do not share boundaries with each other. The existing unsettled
border disputes and increasing conventional conflicts with India has increased a
sense of insecurity among its neighbours.
Another important factor that hinders regional cooperation is the variation in their
political beliefs. South Asia has witnessed all types of political systems
democracy, monarchy and dictatorship. India being the matured democracy and
propagator of democracy in the region created asymmetry in political dealings
among the member countries. Insecurity and distrust among the member countries
forced smaller member countries to bandwagon with external powers (or other
member countries) to balance India thus hampering regional cooperation.
Modis invitation to the heads of governments of the SAARC member-states to his
swearing-in ceremony was perhaps a signal that under his tenure as the prime
minister, India would prioritise its neighbourhood. He visited Bhutan and Nepal
and shared Indias desire to establish a SAARC satellite. One has to wait and watch
if Modi would be able to fulfill those promises.
In order to revive the SAARC, one or more member countries can take initiatives
to reduce distrust and insecurities among the member countries. Similarly, likeminded SAARC countries can form a sub-regional group and enjoy the benefits of
regional cooperation. But cooperation in the sub-regional group which includes
India will have limited cooperation within SAARC, while a sub-regional group

that does not include India will suffer from a lack of contiguity and capacity
constraints. India, being the largest economy of South Asia should show its
benevolence and bear the cost of rejuvenating the SAARC for promoting regional
cooperation in the region. Despite of the discouraging past, there is optimism
among the member countries as all the South Asian countries have adopted
democracy and are realising the benefits of regionalism.

Secretaries-General of SAARC

Abul Ahsan

16 January 1985 to 15 October 1989

Kant Kishore Bhargava

17 October 1989 to 31 December 1991

Ibrahim Hussein Zaki

1 January 1992 to 31 December 1993

Yadav Kant Silwal

1 January 1994 to 31 December 1995

Naeem U. Hasan

1 January 1996 to 31 December 1998

Nihal Rodrigo

1 January 1999 to 10 January 2002

Q. A. M. A. Rahim

11 January 2002 to 28 February 2005

Chenkyab Dorji

1 March 2005 to 29 February 2008

Sheel Kant Sharma

1 March 2008 to 28 February 2011

Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed

1 March 2011 to 11 March 2012

Ahmed Saleem

12 March 2012 to 28 February 2014

Arjun Bahadur Thapa

1 March 2014 to (present)

SUMMITS
HERE SRE SOME OF THE LATEST SUMMITS FROM 2010-2014
1.Sixteenth summit
Bhutan

The sixteenth summit was held in Thimpu, Bhutan on 2829 April 2010. Bhutan
hosted the SAARC summit for the first time. This was marked the silver jubilee
celebration of SAARC that was formed in Bangladesh in December 1985. Climate
change was the central issue of the summit with summit's theme "Towards a Green

and Happy South Asia". Outcome of Thimpu Summit regarding climate change
issue:
SAARC leaders signed a SAARC Convention on Cooperation on
Environment to tackle the problem of climate change.
The SAARC nations also pledged to plant 10 million trees over the next 5
years.
India proposed setting up of climate innovation centres in South Asia to
develop sustainable energy technologies.
India offered services of India's mission on sustaining the Himalayan
Ecosystem to the SAARC member states saying that the initiative could
serve as a nucleus for regional cooperation in this vital area.
India announced "India endowment for climate change" in South Asia to
help member states meet their urgent adaption and capacity building needs
posed by the climate change.
The seven-page Thimphu Silver Jubilee Declaration-Towards a Green and
Happy South Asia emphasised the importance of reducing dependence on
high-carbon technologies for economic growth and hoped promotion of
climate resilience will promote both development and poverty eradication in
a sustainable manner.
2.Seventeenth summit
Maldives

Addu Convention Centre, venue of the 17th SAARC summit

The Seventeenth Summit was held from 10-11 of November 2011 in Addu City,
Maldives. The Meeting, which was held at the Equatorial Convention Centre, Addu
City was opened by the outgoing Chair of SAARC, Prime Minister of the Royal
Government of Bhutan, H.E.Lyonchhen Jigmi Yoezer Thinley.
H.E. Mohamed Nasheed was elected as the Chairperson of the 17th SAARC
Summit. In his inaugural address President Nasheed highlighted three areas of
cooperation in which progress should be made; trade, transport and economic
integration; security issues such piracy and climate change; and good governance.
President also called on the Member States to establish a commission to address
issues of gender inequalities in South Asia.
The Head of States of all the SAARC Member States addressed the Meeting. The
inaugural meeting was attended by Foreign/External Ministers of SAARC Member
States, the Secretary General of SAARC, the Heads of Observer Delegation,
Cabinet Ministers of the Maldives, Ministers in the visiting delegations and other
state dignitaries.
In her address Secretary General stated that the Summit being held under the theme
of"Building Bridges" provides further impetus and momentum to build the many
bridges that needs to be built: from bridging the gaps created by uneven economic
development and income distribution, the gaps in recognizing and respecting the
equality of men and women, the closing of space between intent and
implementation.
In this Meeting, the Foreign Ministers of the respective Member States signed four
agreements;
SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters SAARC
Agreement on Multilateral Arrangement on Recognition of Conformity

Assessment SAARC Agreement on Implementation of Regional Standards

SAARC Seed Bank Agreement In addition, the Addu Declaration of the
Seventeenth SAARC Summit was also adopted.

3.Eighteenth summit
Nepal

The 18th SAARC Summit was held at the Nepalese capital Kathmandu from
November 26 to November 27, 2014 and was attended by the prime ministers of
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the presidents of the Afghanistan,
Maldives and Sri Lanka. The motto was Deeper Integration for Peace and
Prosperity.
4.Nineteenth summit
Pakistan

Pakistan will host the 19th summit of South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) in Islamabad in 2016.
This was announced by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his address to
the 18th SAARC summit being held in the Nepals capital.

FUTURE PROSPECTS
The saarc member nations through its annual summits, have made several pledges
to cooperate with each other and different task forces were formed to explore new
areas of cooperation and pursue what were agreed upon or adopted. But when
actual implementation is considered one could hardly feel satisfied.there was need
for being selective in areas of cooperation such as poverty allevation, trade and
commerce and human resources development, etc. Vigorous supervisions and
monitoring of implementation need to be done.
FOR FUTURE PROSPECT OF SAARC, THE MEMBER NATIONS HAVE TO
GIVE EMPHASIS TO THE FOLLOWING MEASURES:
1.CREATION OF MUTUAL TRUST AND CONFIDENCE
- The history of saarc has been high on promise and low on delivery.

- To change the organization into a more vibrant and result oriented body, we
need to overcome our difference and disputes and create a climate of mutual
trust anmd confidence.

2.ACT AS PEACE BROKER IN THE REGION

- It goes without saying that a strong SAARC is an investment for peace in
the region, since greater interaction would help to pre-empt differences
becoming grave issues that threaten peace.
- Associations charter does not allow for raising of bilateral disputes as its
meetings, it still has the potential of acting as a peace broker.

3.NEED TO REDUCE THE SENSITIVE LIST UNDER SAFTA

- It is important to focus on reducing the large size of sensitive list under
safta; particularly for taking out products with high regional tradability so as
to bring a larger percentage of goods under regional preferential trading
regime.
- Also, there is need to accelerate the tariff liberalization programme.

4.REGIONAL CO-OPERATION
- It can help achieve social and economic development.
- Cross border development of basic infrastructure, such as railways,
highways, shipping and airways, inland waterways, power grids, and
telecommunication links, can reduce physical barriers to the movements of
goods and people across national boundaries.

Thus, regional cooperation can play a very important role in assisting south Asian
countries speed up economic growth.

Five interrelated policy challenges need to be addressed at

the individual country level on the basis of regional
cooperation within the SAARC framework:
(i)

Rapid implementation of free trade and investment envisaged in the

South Asian Free Trade Agreement needs to be undertaken. Inspite of
commendable recent progress, South Asia remains the least integrated
region in the world. Intra-regional trade as a share of total trade in South
Asia remains at about five per cent, which is the lowest for any region in
the world. Other measures of integration such as cross-border investment;
cross-border movement of people; sharing of ideas; communication as
measured by telephone calls (only seven per cent of international
telephone calls are regional, compared to 71 per cent in East Asia); and
transfer of technology and royalty payments are all extremely low.

Achieving greater economic integration will require substantially

improved regional connectivity and overcoming interstate tensions and
(ii)

mistrust;
The process of economic integration and the welfare of people should
not be held hostage to the resolution of interstate disputes. Indeed, as
economic integration is undertaken, new constituencies for peace will
emerge that will facilitate the resolution of interstate disputes.
Nevertheless, the core issues of cross-border terrorism and outstanding
territorial disputes such as Kashmir must be addressed to establish the
basis of lasting peace;

(iii)

Inspite of impressive economic growth rates in the last two decades,

mass poverty persists in South Asia as this region is home to half of the
worlds poor population. Therefore, it is necessary to change the structure
of the existing elite-based economic growth process which induces
increasing income inequalities and constricts the poverty reduction effect
of growth. A new inclusive growth process needs to be undertaken
whereby the middle classes and the poor can have access to productive
resources, high wage employment and equitable access over factor and
product markets. Saarc can provide the framework for sharing and
pursuing best practices in this regard;

(iv)

Strengthening democracy by making it more participatory. This

involves creating institutional structures for decentralised governance
from the federal to the provincial/state, district and down to the
grassroots levels: the purpose being to enable people to participate

systematically in decisions that affect their economic and social life, their
physical security and the life-support systems of the natural environment;
(v)

Climate change and the expected intensification of existing water

stress in some countries of South Asia, food shortages and rising sea
levels threaten the stability of economies and societies in South Asia.
Regional cooperation to undertake joint adaptation and mitigation
measures to face this crisis are therefore necessary.

The future of South Asia is delicately poised like a dewdrop on a blade of grass.
We need to draw upon our civilisational wellsprings of innovativeness to chart a
new course for ourselves and the world.

CONCLUSION
The present study attempted to inquire into various aspects of regional cooperation
in South Asia in the preceding chapters with the objective of gaining a meaningful
understanding of SAARC as a phenomenon. This study started with the
basicconceptual discussion on regions, South Asia as a viable region and
proceeded to study the evolution of SAARC as a regional organization of South
Asia. The socio-economic and political dimensions ofthe states of the region, their
internal problems, their interrelationships, the role and importance of the region in
international relations and the impact of the global powers on the regional
organization of the South Asia have been discussed in detail. An evaluation of the
functioning of SAARC and the progress made by it during these years has also
been undertaken.
The study started with a conceptual discussion of world war II and
itsconsequences and arrival at a working definition of region. It indicates thatthere

were strong factors in South Asia, like the geography, proximity, history,society,
security perception and nation building process etc. commonalities inthe social and
cultural aspects and economic background. These factors and interference of the
big powers in someway or the other paved the path for regional organization in
South Asia.
The genesis of SAARC is also one of them. The origin of SAARC in its present
form could be traced to the proposals mooted by the late President Ziaur-Rehman
of Bangladesh in 1980 followed by the circulation of Working Paper on South
Asian Regional Cooperation in November 1980. The formal 173 discussions for
the establishment of an institutional mechanism for regional cooperation in South
Asia started with the Colombo meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of the seven
states of South Asian region, i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan,India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka in April 1981.

Lastly SAARC has been too cautious in trying to keep bilateralcontentions issues
out of its deliberations fearing that it may derail whatever progress is made. Once
discussions on political issues are initiated it is apparent that such an approach of
keeping bilateral politics out of SAARC deliberations has not worked. As an
alternative therefore a more formalized apparatus could be created. This may help
in addressing a rang of issues which are of a transnational character even though
their genesis may be within individual nations. Such a step may be accompanied
with some appropriate changes in the SAARC charter. This would be necessary to
take care of the concerns that SAARC visionaries had at the times of its inception
that politically contentious issues might not mar the progress that could be made on
other areas of social and economic significance. Such an approach would morein

tune with the existing realities in South Asia.10There may be two fold advantages
in this. First, it will be able to bridgethe trust deficit that exists between India and
other South Asian countries,especially Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. A
discussion on contentious issuesin a regional forum often allows the much needed
outlet that otherwise is notpossible in either bilateral interactions where often
stated positions getrepeated; or multilateral forum where the threat of an external
impositionalways exists. As mentioned earlier, SAARC summits at times have
beenknown to be great icebreakers at times when bilateral relations seem to
havecome unstuck in some cases. The pressure valve role of SAARC must
beformalized rather than remain an ad hoc one. India would definitely have to
show greater openness and resolve in opting for the regional option as the bigger
and more responsible actor in regional cooperation as it is often at the centre
ofcontroversy in many of the vexed South Asian issues. While SAARC may not
become a problem solving platform as some of the problems in the subcontinent
are endemic, rooted in deeper history and ideology, it can nevertheless become a
starting point of key confidence building measures across the region. As the
interests of external power (China and US) especially after the entry of
Afghanistan in the grouping grows, internal coherence within

Apart from all these, this can be said that new developments which generally
emerge with the passage of time and change in global scenario also affect the
regional associations positively or negatively. When SAARC wasformed it was
period of cold war intensity, bitterness and mutual suspicion thatis why some of
SAARC members were reluctant to frame and practice thisforum. However they
realized its regional and interstate significance they generally became keenly
interested to the platform. SAARC itself wanted the support of member countries

so that it might have performed well but more than that these South Asian states
needed much SAARC forums support sothat they come together. It is a stage on
which these states discuss their basic and mutually fricting problems. Many things
can be settled town, mediated among them itself and threshed out. According to the
practicality of time it hasto be ready to accept some challenges also but not on the
cost of its regionalunity and sanctity. If there are formations of many other groups
as Shanghai-5 ARF, ASEAN, APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation),
IORC (IndianOcean Rim Cooperation), PIF and recent Russia, Pak, Iran,
Afghanistan, collaboration etc.; SAARC may also become strong and smart
enough to build up an Asian Order.