South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional grouping comprising of eight states- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Nine Countries – Australia, China, European Union, Iran, Japan, Myanmar, Mauritius, South Korea and U.S. – hold Observer status. 25 years ago in 1985, SAARC was initiated with the dream of realizing the objective of regional cooperation in South Asia. Given the peculiar regional realities, SAARC has evoked mixed evaluations. For observes of other regional groupings like European Union and ASEAN, it is a stagnant body; but many consider SAARC to be the most appropriate forum for a region beset with high degrees of national animosity and rivalry. The Silver Jubilee Summit of SAARC on April 28-29 is an appropriate occasion for assessing the role of the regional body. This three part post highlights the evolution of SAARC, agreements made during the 16th Summit and challenges confronting the group.
The logic of neighborhood existence and civilizational links among the developing countries of South Asia provided constructive background conditions for cooperation in the region. The South Asian countries were a part of the wider cooperative efforts at the Asian Relations Conference in 1947 and Bandung Conference in 1955. It was only in the mid 1980s that tangible attempts were witnessed with regard to promoting cooperation in South Asia as a region. The efforts at institutionalization of regional cooperation in South Asia began with the proposal of Bangladeshi President Zia-ur Rehman elaborated in the Bangladesh Working Paper in 1980. After a series of meeting at the level of Foreign Secretaries and Foreign Ministers through 1981-1984, Heads of States/ Governments met in Dhaka in December 1985. Since then SAARC Heads of States have met in 16 Summits, the latest one being in Thimpu, Bhutan last month.
Though the Heads of States are expected to meet once a year, SAARC continues to operate through a network of auxiliary bodies. A Council of Ministers consisting of the Foreign Ministers of the Member States meet twice a year to formulate the programs of the Association and review its progress. The Standing Committee, comprising of Foreign Secretaries, submits periodic reports to the Council of Ministers and make reference to it as and when necessary for decisions on policy matters. Technical Committees comprising representatives of Member States are responsible for the implementation, coordination and monitoring of the programs in their respective areas of cooperation. The Standing Committee may set up Action Committees comprising Member States concerned with implementation of projects involving more than two but not all Member States. The permanent Secretariat of the Association is located in Kathmandu, Nepal. Regional Centers relating to Agriculture, Tuberculosis, Documentation, Meteorological Research, and Human Resource Development have been established in different SAARC capitals.
The primary objective of SAARC was to promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their quality of life. The member states sought to achieve this objective through active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technical and scientific fields. Cooperation within the framework of SAARC was based on respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, non –interference in the internal affairs of other States and mutual benefit.
An attempt was made to so design the cooperative venture in South Asia that challenges of political disagreements would not adversely impinge on the process during the fragile formative period. Hence it was explicitly stated in the SAARC Charter that bilateral contentious issues would not be discussed in the regional forum.
In tracing the evolution of SAARC, the Group of Eminent Persons Report refers to two phases. The first was the preparatory phase based on gradual and step-by-step approach to initiating regional cooperation, in non-controversial and peripheral areas. In the second half of its evolution, SAARC moved into its expansionary phase, when regional cooperation was expanded in social and core economic sectors, including the operationalization of South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA). Currently SAARC can be referred to be in the implementation phase of its journey. Such thinking was reflected in Indian Prime Minister’s Speech at the 12th SAARC Summit, where he stated that, “We need to move from the realm of ideas to plans of action. Our statements of good intentions have to be translated into programs for implementation.”
With sixteen Summits, a host of cooperation programs, Regional Conventions on a variety issues ranging from terrorism to narcotics, initiation of a free trade area, agreement on a social charter and opening of permanent membership for Afghanistan and observer status for other countries, SAARC has recently witnessed an eventual adolescence. But the process of regional consolidation has not been without challenges. Several deferred summits, limited intra-regional trade, continued Indo-Pakistan tensions, incomplete national integration process, reversal of democratic process in most countries, perceived role of extra-regional actors and the continued threat of terrorism and intra-regional security threats demonstrate the multiple challenges yet awaiting regional agreement and response.
Fortunately, these difficulties, in the words of Rajen Mahan, hardly constitute an insurmountable barrier and the general impasse in the South Asian scenario is mercifully not an immutable phenomenon.
After four rounds of trade negotiations, the SAARC members concluded a preferential trading agreement in 2002, referred to as SAPTA (South Asian Preferential Trading Agreement). Framework Agreement for free trade – SAFTA – was signed in 2004, yet to be fully implemented. According to Dr Saman Kelegama is the Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, the signing of SAFTA was “in itself an achievement”. SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism was signed in 1987 and came into force in 1988 following its ratification by all Member States. A Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk was established in 1995 in Colombo to support the implementation of the convention by ‘collecting, assessing and disseminating information on terrorist offences, tactics, strategies and methods’. An Additional Protocol to the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism was signed in 2002 but which came into force on 12 January 2006 following ratification by all Member States. Finally a Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters was signed in August 2008 but has yet to come into force pending ratification by all Member States.
Conventions have also been signed in other areas including Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, Trafficking in Women and Children, and Child Welfare in South Asia. An Agreement on Food Security Reserve is also in place. A Natural Disaster Rapid Response Mechanism has been created to adopt a coordinated and planned approach to deal with natural disasters under the aegis of the SAARC Disaster Management Centre. An inter-ministerial agreement was signed for the establishment of the South Asian University during the 14th SAARC Summit, in New Delhi, 04 April 2007. The South Asian University (SAU) is envisioned as an institution that will advance a sense of South Asian community within the region by bringing together the future generation of students in the pursuit of academic excellence as they prepare for the challenges of the new millennium.
SAARC Social Charter was signed at the 12th Summit in 2004. Issues covered under the Charter, such as poverty alleviation, population stabilization, empowerment of women, youth mobilization, human resource development, promotion of health and nutrition and protection of children are central to the welfare and well being of all South Asians. These are just a few areas where SAARC has succeeded in bringing the South Asian states together.
In 25 years SAARC has evolved several institutional arrangements and agreements to deal with regional issues; the framework of cooperation exists in theory. Genuine activation and implementation of these agreements requires political will on the part of national leaders. SAARC as an institution cannot be termed as a failure; it provides the South Asian states with the opportunity to discuss common problems and coordinate the resolution process. National anxieties and rivalries have disallowed SAARC from promoting deeper regional cooperation. Member states have failed SAARC rather than vice-versa.
