SAARC

SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION
FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION
(SAARC)
PRESENTED BY
SUSHIL KUMAR
M.A(P),DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
DELHI SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

INTRODUCTION
 In the era of globalization,formation of regional groupings is
the first step towards global integration.
 Regional groupings are,most commonly,based upon the
principles of a shared histories,geographical contiguity,core
competencies,advantages associated with economy of scale
 The concept of SAARC as a political and economic
cooperation in south asia was first envisaged by Bangaledshi
President Late Zia-Ur-Rahman in 1980
 SAARC came into being in 1985 with
Bangladesh,Bhutan,India,Maldives,Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka as founding members.Afghanistan
joined SAARC later in 2007.

 In 1983 ,the international conference held by Indian Minister
of External Affairs P.V Narasimha Rao in NEW Delhi,the
foreign ministers of inner seven countries adopted the
Declaration on SAARC and formally launched the Integrated
Plan of Action(POA) initially in five areas of cooperation
namely
1. Agriculture
2. Rural Development
3. Telecommunication
4. Meteorology and
5. Helth and Population Activities
 The SAARC Secretariat was established on 16 January 1987
and was inaugurated by late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah
of Nepal.

REGIONAL CENTERS
The SAARC Secretariat is supported by following Regional
Centers established in Member States to promote regional co-
operation
1.SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC),Dhaka,Bangladesh
2.SAARC Meteorogical Reserch
Center(SMRC),Dhaka,Bangladesh
3.SAARC Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS
Center(STAC)Kathmandu,Nepal
4.SAARC Documentation Center(SDC)New Delhi,India
5.SAARAC Human Resources Development
Center(SHRDC)Islamabad,Pakistan

6. SAARAC Coastal Zone Management
Center(SCZMC),Maldives
7. SAARC Information Center(SIC),Nepal
8 SAARC Energy Center(SEC),Pakistan
9. SAARAC Disaster Management Center(SDMC),India
10. SAARC Forestry Center(SFC) Bhutan
11. SAARC Cultural Center(SCC)Sri Lanka

PRINCIPLES
 Respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, political equality
and independence of all member states.
 Promoting peace, stability, amity and progress in the region,
particularly respect for the principles of sovereign equality,
territorial integrity, national independence,
 Non-use of force and peaceful settlement of all disputes;
 Non-interference in the internal matters.
 Cooperation for mutual benefit.
 All decisions to be taken unanimously.
 All bilateral issues to be kept aside and only multilateral issues
to be discussed.

AIMS AND ISSUES
1 Lasting peace and prosperity in the indian subcontinent
2. South Asian Free Trade Area(SAFTA):SAFTA was envisaged
primarly as the first step towards the transition to a Free Trade
Area leading subsequently towards a Custom Union ,Common
Market and Economic Union.
 During 10th SAARC Summit (Colombo,29-31 july 1998) it was
decided to set up a committee of Experts(COE) to draft a
comprehensive treaty framwork for creating a free trade area
within the region,taking into consideration the asymmetries in
development within the region and bearing in mind to fix realistic
and achievable targets.
 SAFTA agrement was signed on 6 january 2004 during 12th
SAARC Summit held in Islamabad in Pakistan.The aggrement
enterded into force 1st july 2006.

 Under this agreement ,SAARC members will bring their duties
down to 20 percent by 2009.
 In 2012 the SAARC exports increased substantially to US$
355 billion from US$206 billion in 2009.
 Imports too increased from US$330 billion to US$ 602 billion
over the same period.
3.SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme:
 Was launched in 1992.
 Leaders at the 4rth submmit(Islamabad,29-31 December
1988),while realising the importance of having peole to people
contacts ,among the peoples of SAARC countries,decided that
certain certain categories of dignitries should be entitled to a
special travel documet,which woud exempt them visas within
the region.
 Curently the list included 24 categories of entitled persons
which include dignitries,Judges of higher
courts,Parliamentarians,Senior
Officials,Businessmen,Journalists,Sportperson etc.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 18th SAARC SUMMIT
 The eighteenth summit of 'South Asian Association of
Regional Cooperation' (SAARC) was held in Kathmandu, the
capital of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal during 26–27
November 2014.
 The theme of the summit was Deeper Integration for Peace
and Prosperity, focused on enhancing connectivity between
the member states for easier transit-transport across the region
 Foreign Ministers of the eight member states signed an
agreement on energy cooperation namely 'SAARC Framework
Agreement for Energy Cooperation (Electricity)' in the
presence of their heads of state and government during the
concluding ceremony of the 18th SAARC Summit on 27
November.

 Pakistan stalled, citing insufficient internal preparations,
signing of two other agreements on Vehicular Traffic and
Railways respectively
 It was also decided that Pakistan will host the next summit in
2016
 China, which holds an observer status in the group, was seen
actively promoting a more active role for itself in the region
including infrastructure funding through its proposed 'Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank' (AIIB) and extending its
ambitious Maritime Silk Road project to South Asian nations.
 Pakistan, China's all weather friend, also vouched for a more
participatory role for the observer nations in the summit
process, indirectly advocating for a more Chinese
involvement. Although no such proposal was accepted
because of India's reservation

 A commitment to achieving a South Asian Economic Union
(SAEU) by 2030, which would include a free trade area,
customs union, common market and a common economic and
monetary union.
 China's Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin reaffirmed the
country’s economic commitment to SAARC and announced
plans to spend USD 30 billion for the construction of roads,
the creation of 10,000 scholarships and 5,000 training
opportunities in China.
 Many observers have dismissed the SAARC summit for
failing to achieve its full potential, and this overall sentiment
was perhaps best summed up by Modi who said: “nowhere in
the world are collective efforts more urgent than in South
Asia; and, nowhere else is it so modest.”

INDIA'S ROLE
 Initially India was against forming of such grouping.But after
liberalization of economy and success of NAFTA,ASEAN
opened its eyes.
 In this association,India is percived to behave like a hegemon
and Pakistan as obstructionist in india's ambitions to play a
legitimate role commensurate with its achievments and
capabilities.
 Pakistan have tried to play China card against India either to
get more concessions or pressurize it.In recent
submit(november 2014),Pakistan pushed for enhanced role of
china in SAARC.
 India having heavy weight can't dream of becoming regional
power or say global power without having make SAARC
functional in its objective

 For that to be happen India has to leave big brothers role and try
to get neighbors on board.
 At the same time neighbours too will have to look into the long
term prospects and benefits accruing out of the successes of
SAARC.
 China's economic power should be utilised in constructive way
rather than holdin India's effort.
Following will be the key in SAARC success:
1. Building trust
2. Putting economics before politics
3. Boosting up cultural cooperation and regional tourism
4.Joint efforts to deter cross-border illegal
migration,terrorism,narcotics and drug traffickin
Besides these bilateral and sub-regional initiatives(Nepal-India
Bangladesh etc) could significantly spur regional cooperation.

REASONS FOR SAARC FAILURE
 Has SAARC delivered?
 Has it contributed in any way to make the lives of billions
living in the area better?
 Has it resulted in greater interaction among the SAARC
nations?
Answer of all of these questions is in the negative
The reasons for SAARC's non-performance are multiple, and
these factors need to be understood and steps taken to counter
these by all stakeholders, if they wish for SAARC to be
successful.
 Of course, the political tensions between India and Pakistan
are an obvious reason. As long as the relations between two
biggest member states of SAARC are strained, any action to
strengthen SAARC is bound to be extremely difficult.

 Narrow national interests have invariably triumphed in the
region rather than broader regional vision, which of course
will also be more beneficial to the individual nations in the
long run.
 Unfortunately some of the countries in the region have been
suffering from political uncertainties and the governments
there have not been strong enough to take hard decisions
which are required to make any meaningful multi-lateral
initiatives.
 Lack of connectivity between different SAARC countries is
another reason for the lackluster performance of SAARC so
far. Trade and other relations between India and Afghanistan
are hampered by the fact that they don't share any border and
connectivity through Pakistan, and is dependent upon good
relations between India and Pakistan.

 Similar is the case between Nepal and Pakistan. Add to this,
the poor state of critical infrastructure in practically all
SAARC countries, and the fact that any trade or contacts
between them seems to face major infrastructural issues apart
from the obvious political ones. The lack of security and the
terrorist threats in most SAARC countries is another
hindrance.
 A fundamental fact which distinguishes SAARC from other
such groupings also needs to be understood. Most of such
other economic groupings, be it EU or ASEAN, are groupings
of the economies, which are more or less equal.
 Even if some economies are smaller than others, there are
three or four equally powerful economies. Unlike any other
such groupings, SAARC is dominated by India. India accounts
for nearly 60 per cent of SAARC's population, area or GDP.

 Except for Afghanistan, India shares its borders with every
country in the region, and again, except for Afghanistan, no
other country shares a border with any other SAARC country
except India. This obvious asymmetry makes meaningful
cooperation that much more problematic.
 However, an important reason for non-performance of
SAARC, and which has not got its due attention, is also the
psychological framework of its various constituents
 Not many countries in the SAARC region identify themselves
as predominantly South Asian. Afghans consider themselves
more as a Central Asian country, while Pakistan would prefer
to be a part of the Middle East. Both Sri Lanka and Maldives
think of themselves as much a South East Asian country as a
South Asian one

WAY FORWARD
 So what can be done?
 Is SAARC doomed to failure or is there a way forward? One
can envision two options for SAARC.
1. Option One is to give up SAARC as a non-starter and start
looking for other options such as BIMSTEC or any other new
group for economic upliftment of area or leave the members of
SAARC to find their alternatives
2.Option two will be to go the whole hog and make efforts to
make SAARC fully integrated, at least economically.
Proponents of single currency for SAARC seem to take this
approach. Neither of these approaches is appropriate, given the
geo-political situation of today.

 While SAARC has not met the expectations it has generated,
the very fact that it gives opportunities for the leaders as well
as the operating level officials to interact regularly and discuss
issues of mutual concern is reason enough for SAARC to
remain relevant.
 Problems faced by the SAARC countries are similar and
distinct from other regions. The solutions, therefore, are best
found with mutual cooperation in the region. For this reason
itself SAARC continues to be relevant
 It will be unrealistic to talk of single currency when the two
biggest nations of the region are not even on talking terms.
 The feasible alternative, therefore, is to take small steps. Steps
that will further integration, but are workable, given the
geopolitical realities of the region.
What are these steps?

• One or two projects at the sub-regional level could be
identified and vigorously implemented within a specific time
frame. These projects, if successful, can show the benefits of
mutual cooperation and could persuade the doubting Thomas's
to join in.
• What is also required is for SAARC to concentrate its
activities in core identified areas and not lose its direction by
getting involved in too many activities. Since India is literally
the pivot around which SAARC revolves, the major
responsibility for making SAARC a success is upon India. It,
therefore, needs to show willingness and undertake
asymmetric responsibilities where required.

• Each SAARC country also has to realize that while the
political situation in individual countries may keep on
changing, the economic situation does not change so rapidly
and, as it exists, requires really serious efforts for
improvement.
• At the end of the day, it is the economy which matters for the
impoverished people of the region. SAARC can and should be
the instrument for leaders of the region to improve the
economic situation of the people of the region, even if to begin
with, it is in baby steps.
• THANKS

SAARC

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