SAARC

INTRODUCTION

 The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an

organization of South Asian nations, which was established on 8
December 1985 when the government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka formally adopted its charter
providing for the promotion of economic and social progress,
cultural development within the South Asia region and also for
friendship and cooperation with other developing countries.
 Afghanistan joined the organization in 2007.
 It is headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal.
 The meetings of the heads of the states are usually scheduled
annually while the meetings of foreign secretaries , twice in a year.
Member States
Objectives
The objectives of the Association as defined in the Charter
are :
 To promote the welfare of the people of South Asia and to
improve their quality of life;
 To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural
development in the region and to provide all individuals the
opportunity to live in dignity and to realize their full
potential;
 To promote and strengthen selective self-reliance among
the countries of South Asia;
 To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and
appreciation of one another’s problems;
 To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in
the economic, social, cultural and technical and scientific
fields;
 To strengthen cooperation with other developing
countries;
 To strengthen cooperation among themselves in
international forums on matters of common interest; and
 To cooperate with international and regional organizations
with similar aims and purposes.
Principles of SAARC
 Respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, political equality
and independence of all member states.
 Non- interference in the internal matters is one of its
objectives.
 Cooperation for mutual benefit.
 All decisions to be taken unanimously and need a quorum of
all eight members.
 All bilateral issues to be kept aside and only multilateral
(involving many countries) issues to be discussed without
being prejudiced by bilateral issues.
Organizational structure
 Council of Ministers
 Standing Committee
 Technical Committee
 Programming Committee
 Secretariat
Areas of Cooperation
The areas of cooperation are as follows :
 Agriculture and Rural Development
 Investment and Commercial Dispute Settlement
 Biotechnology
 Culture
 Economic and Trade
 Education
 Energy
 Environment
 Finance
 Food Security and SAARC Food Bank
 Information and Communication Technology
 Poverty Alleviation
 Science and Technology
 Security Aspects- Drug and Drug related crimes
Terrorism
Police matters
 Social Development
 Tourism
 Funding Mechanism
List of SAARC Summits
 First summit : 7-8 December, 1985 (Dhaka)
 Second Summit : 16-17 November, 1986 (Bangalore)
 Third Summit : 2-4 November, 1987 (Kathmandu)
 Fourth Summit : 29-31 December, 1988 (Islamabad)
 Fifth Summit :21-23 November, 1990 (Male)
 Sixth Summit : 21 December, 1991 (Colombo)
 Seventh Summit :10-11 April, 1993 (Dhaka)
 Eighth Summit :2-4 May,1995 (New Delhi)
 Ninth Summit : 12-14 May, 1997 (Male)
 Tenth Summit :29-31 July, 1998 (Colombo)
 Eleventh Summit : 4-6 January, 2002 (Kathmandu)
 Twelfth Summit : 2-6 January, 2004 (Islamabad)
 Thirteenth Summit : 12-13 November, 2005 (Dhaka)
 Fourteenth Summit : 3-4 April, 2007 (New Delhi)
 Fifteenth Summit : 1-3 August, 2008 (Colombo)
 Sixteenth Summit : 28-29 April, 2010 (Thimphu)
 Seventeenth Summit : 10-11 November, 2011 (Maldives)
 Eighteenth Summit : 26-27 November, 2014 (Kathmandu)
 Nineteenth Summit :15-19 November,2016(Islamabad) – [Cancelled]
SAARC Specialized Bodies

 SAARC Development Fund (SDF)

 South Asian University (SAU)
 SAARC Arbitration Council
 South Asian Regional Standards
Organization
Problems
South Asia continues to be plagued with ongoing disputes
among nations, and the countries of the SAARC are grappling
with conflicts within their own national territorial
boundaries.
Tiffs between India and Pakistan have dominated SAARC
since its formation in 1985, and played the central role of
failing to boost economic growth and collective self-reliance.
Both countries have undermined the bloc to the extent that
members do more trade through bilateral partnerships than
as a region. As a result, growth gaps in South Asia have been
widening sharply.
The various problems faced by the association are as follows :
 Policy of non-interference
 Championed by soft power of India.
 Large variety regional and cultural differences.
 Lack of financial resources and advanced technologies
 Bilateral dispute and differences.
 Political instability
 Geopolitical tensions
 Trust deficit and lack of social cohesion
 Global challenges
 Internal problems constituting social, economic and
developmental issues.
 Low level of Intra SAARC trade
 Suffers from an acute resource crunch
 Underdeveloped Infrastructure
 Food Security reserve failed to meet the need during
crisis in certain states.
 Lack of effective implication of SAARC programmes.
Prospects
 SAARC, as an organization, reflects the South Asian identity of
the countries, historically and contemporarily. This is a
naturally made geographical identity. Equally, there is a
cultural, linguistic, religious and culinary affinity that defines
South Asia.
 South Asia needs increased co-operations among its countries
to face challenges posed by hikes in food prices, energy prices,
recurrent disasters and climate change due to geographic,
economic, cultural and other strategic reasons.
 South Asia has distinct advantages to cooperate in many areas
including cross border infrastructure and services.
 South Asia has shown impressive growth in the last decade.
 This growth is reflected in the growth of trade and investment in
the region.
 India has been star performer among all South Asian countries.
 More global integration and South Asia’s proximity to the growing
Asian region (China, ASEAN) are explanatory factors of this
growth.
 Large human capital base combined with competition through
open economies is playing a crucial role in the growth process.
 Increased remittances and growing middle class with high
purchasing power.
 Youth bulge in a perspective possible demographic dividend.
 High growth in services with modern technology.
 In a region increasingly targeted by Chinese investment and
loans, SAARC could be a common platform to demand more
sustainable alternatives for development, or to oppose
trade tariffs together, or to demand better terms for South
Asian labour around the world.
 The potential of organization to maintain peace and
stability in the region should be explored by all the member
countries.
 SAARC should be allowed to progress naturally and the
people of South Asia , who make up a quarter of the world’s
population should be offered more people-to- people
contact and cultural cohesiveness.
Conclusion
 It has often been argued that a ‘SAARC Parliament could go
beyond the bureaucratic-technical parameters of the existing
organization and promote new political, moral and cultural
dimensions of regionalism in South Asia’.
 The situation with regard to South Asian regionalism has been
beautifully captured by Lawrence Saez, “South Asia forms a
unique regional security complex that enables certain forms of
regional cooperation and bars cooperation on other issue
areas”.
Thank you…

SAARC

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INTRODUCTION

 The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an

 SAARC Development Fund (SDF)

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