SAARC

 SAARC

"South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation"

The South Asian association for regional cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC charter in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 8 Dec 1985.

The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first raised in Nov 1980, After consultations of the foreign secretaries of the 7 founding countries - BANGLADESH, BHUTAN, INDIA, NEPAL, MALDIVES, SRI LANKA & PAKISTAN - met for the first time in Colombo, Sri Lanka in April 1981.

Afghanistan became the Newest member of SAARC at the 13th annual summit in 2005.

The headquarters and secretariat of the association are at Kathmandu, Nepal.

After 2005, SAARC consist of 8 member countries -BANGLADESH, BHUTAN, INDIA, NEPAL, MALDIVES, SRI LANKA, PAKISTAN & AFGHANISTAN.

SAARC countries have common tradition, dress, food, culture & political aspects thereby synergizing their actions.

All the SAARC countries have a common have common problems and issues like poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, natural disasters, socio-economic conditions, & some sort ofGDP struggle thereby creating common areas of development & progress having common solutions.

SAARC importance: 

It comprises of, 

3% of world's area

21% of world's population and 

5.21% global economy.

Objectives of SAARC:

SAARC was established with the following objectives :

- to promote the welfare of the people of south asia and to improve the quality of life.

- to contribute to mutual trust

- to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region.

- to strengthen cooperation with other developing countries.

- to cooperate with international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes.

SAARC Specialized Bodies:

SAARC has established new institutions such as SAARC Arbitration Council (SARCO), South Asian University (SAU), SAARC Development Fund (SDF) Secretariat and SAARC Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) which have mandates and structures different from the Regional Centers.

 

-SAARC DEVELOPMENT FUND

The 13th SAARC Summit (Dhaka, 12-13 November 2005) decided to establish SAARC Development Fund (SDF) as a comprehensive funding mechanism with the provision of three Windows (Social, Economic and Infrastructure). 

SDF Secretariat was formally commissioned in April 2010 in Thimphu during the Sixteenth SAARC Summit with the primary objective of funding project-based collaboration. Since then, SDF has been funding projects approved by the SDF Board under its Social Window.

SDF is governed by a Board consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Finance of the Member States. The Governing Council of SDF (Finance Ministers of MSs) oversees the functioning of the Board.MS have also been emphasizing on opening up of the two remaining windows of SDF, i.e. Economic and Infrastructure Windows.

 

-SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY

The Agreement for the Establishment of South Asian University was signed by the Ministers of Foreign/External Affairs of the MSs of SAARC during the Fourteenth SAARC Summit (New Delhi, 4 April 2007).

As per Article 7 of the Agreement of the SAU, it is necessary for the MS to recognize the Degrees and Certificates awarded by the SAU at par with the respective Degrees and Certificates awarded by the National Universities / Institutions.

 

-SOUTH ASIAN REGIONAL STANDARDS ORGANIZATION

The fifteenth SAARC Summit paved the way for establishing SARSO in order to harmonize standards and promote cooperation in the fields of metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment for enhancing the capacity of the respective national institutions in carrying out their technical tasks. The agreement on SARSO came into effect on 25th August 2011.

 

-SAARC ARBITRATION COUNCIL

The agreement on SARCO was signed during the Thirteenth Summit and came into effect on 2 July 2007. SARCO was established with a view to resolve cost-effective settlement of disputes via arbitration within the region.

Significance for India:

- Primacy to the country's immediate neighbors 

- India can counter China's OBOR(One belt one road) initiative through engaging         its neighbors in development process & economic cooperation.

- It offers India a platform to showcase its leadership in the region by taking up            extra responsibilities.

- Game changer for India's act east policy by linking south asian economies with           south east asian will bring further economic integration & prosperity to India            mainly in the service state.

Challenges faced by SAARC:

SAARC is comparatively a new organisation in the global arena, hence it face multiple challenges.

- Low frequency meetings.

- escalated tensions & conflicts between India and Pakistan have severly hampered    prospects of SAARC

   *as India including Bhutan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Maldives didn't      attended  SAARC summit due to Uri attack of 2016.

- And economic crisis in countries and external interference.

Conclusion:

SAARC is an organisation which reflects south asian identity of the countries, historically & contemporary.

the potential of the organisation to maintain peace and stability in the region should be explored by all the member countries.

SAARC should be allowed to progress naturally and people of south asia, who make up a quarter of the world's population should be affected more people to people contact.
and SAARC should hold its annual meet frequently.

THANK YOU !

~ abhisht