South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

History and Evolution of SAARC

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) comprises the seven countries of South Asia, i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is an Association based on the consciousness that in an increasingly interdependent world, the objectives of peace, freedom, social justice and economic prosperity are best achieved in the South Asian region by fostering mutual understanding, good neighborly relations and meaningful cooperation among the Member States which are bound by ties of history and culture. The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first mooted in May 1980. After consultations, the Foreign Secretaries of the seven countries met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981. This was followed by a meeting of the Committee of the Whole in Colombo in August-September 1981, which identified five broad areas for regional cooperation. The Foreign Ministers of South Asia, at their first meeting in New Delhi in August 1983, adopted the Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation (SARC) 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. The Heads of State or Government at their First SAARC Summit held in Dhaka on 7-8 December 1985 adopted the Charter formally establishing the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The objectives, principles and general provisions contained in the SAARC Charter are as follows:

Objectives
To promote the welfare of the peoples 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 collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia; To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one anothers problems ; To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technical and scientific fields; To strengthen cooperation with other developing countries; To strengthen cooperation among themselves in international forums on matters of common interests; and To cooperate with international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes.

Principles
Cooperation within the framework of the Association is 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; Such cooperation is to complement and not to substitute bilateral or multilateral cooperation; and Such cooperation should be consistent with bilateral and multilateral obligations of Member States.

General Provisions
Decisions at all levels in SAARC are to be taken on the basis of unanimity; and Bilateral and contentious issues are to be excluded from the deliberations of the Association.

Members States Observers States

Headquarters Official languages Demonym Membership Government Chairman Secretary General Establishment Total

Kathmandu, Nepal English South Asian 8 Members[show] 9 Observers[show] Organization Mahinda Rajapaksa Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed December 8, 1985 Area 5,130,746 km2 (7th1) 1,980,992 sq mi

Population 2009 estimate 1,600,000,000 (1st1) Density 304.9/km2 789.7/sq mi 2009 estimate US$ 4,382,700 million (3rd1) US$ 2,779 See footnote 2 (UTC+4 to +6)

GDP (PPP) - Total Per capita Currency Time zone

Website www.SAARC-Sec.org
1 2

If considered as a single entity. A unified currency has been proposed. Present currencies (ISO 4217 codes bracketed): Afghan afghani (AFG) Bangladeshi taka (BDT) Bhutanese ngultrum (BTN) Indian rupee (INR) Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR) Nepalese rupee (NPR) Pakistani rupee (PKR) Sri Lankan rupee (LKR)

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organisation of South Asian nations, founded in December 1985 and dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural development emphasising collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2005. Meetings of heads of state are usually scheduled annually; meetings of foreign secretaries, twice annually. It is headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal. 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. History The concept of SAARC was first adopted by Bangladesh during 1977, under the administration of President Ziaur Rahman. In the late 1970s, SAARC nations agreed upon the creation of a trade bloc consisting of South Asian countries. The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was again mooted in May 1980. The foreign secretaries of the seven countries met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981. The Committee of the Whole, which met in Colombo in August 1985, identified five broad areas for regional cooperation. New areas of cooperation were added in the following years.[1] Objectives

The objectives of the Association as defined in the Charter are:[2]

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 collective 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, 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 organisations with similar aims and purposes.

Afghanistan was added to the regional grouping on 13 November 2005, [3] With the addition of Afghanistan, the total number of member states were raised to eight (8). In April 2006, the United States of America and South Korea made formal requests to be granted observer status. TheEuropean Union has also indicated interest in being given observer status, and made a formal request for the same to the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in July 2006. [4][5] On 2 August 2006 the foreign ministers of the SAARC countries agreed in principle to grant observer status to the US, South Korea and the European Union.[5] On 4 March 2008, Iran requested observer status.[6] Followed shortly by the entrance of Mauritius.

Secretariat
The SAARC Secretariat was established in Kathmandu on 16 January 1987 and was inaugurated by Late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal. It is headed by a Secretary General appointed by the Council of Ministers from Member Countries in alphabetical order for a three-year term. He is assisted by the Professional and the General Services Staff, and also an appropriate number of functional units called Divisions assigned to Directors on deputation from Member States.[7] The Secretariat coordinates and monitors implementation of activities, prepares for and services meetings, and serves as a channel of communication between the Association and its Member States as well as other regional organizations.[7] The Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the Secretariat [7] which was signed by Foreign Ministers of member countries on 17 November 1986 at Bangalore, India contains various clauses concerning the role, structure and administration of the SAARC Secretariat as well as the powers of the Secretary-General. In several recent meetings the heads of state or government of member states of SAARC have taken some important decisions and bold initiatives to strengthen the organisation and to widen and deepen regional co-operation. The SAARC Secretariat and Member States observe 8 December as the SAARC Charter Day1. Regional Centres The SAARC Secretariat has established various regional centres in member states. The 13th being SAARC Arbitration Council established at Islamabad in 2010. Each regional centre is managed by a governing board (GB). The GB has representatives of each of the member state and SAARC Secretariat.

Political issues
SAARC has intentionally laid more stress on "core issues" mentioned above rather than more decisive political issues like the Kashmir dispute and the Sri Lankan civil war. However, political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings. SAARC has also refrained itself from interfering in the internal matters of its member states. During the 12th and 13th SAARC summits, extreme emphasis was laid upon greater cooperation between the SAARC members to fight terrorism.

South Asian Free Trade Area

Over the years, the SAARC members have expressed their unwillingness on signing a free trade agreement. Though India has several trade pacts with Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, similar trade agreements with Pakistan and Bangladesh have been stalled due to political and economic concerns on both sides. In 1993, SAARC countries signed an agreement to gradually lower tariffs within the region, in Dhaka. Eleven years later, at the 12th SAARC Summit at Islamabad, SAARC countries devised the South Asia Free Trade Agreement which created a framework for the establishment of a free trade area covering 1.6 billion people. This agreement went into force on January 1, 2008. Under this agreement, SAARC members will bring their duties down to 20 per cent by 2009.

Dhaka 2009 Summit

The summit accorded observer status to People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and United States of America. The nations also agreed to organize development funds under would cover all SAARC programs and also ranging from social, to infrastructure, to economic ones.

SAARC Youth Award

The SAARC Youth Award is awarded to outstanding individuals from the SAARC region. The award is notable due to the recognition it gives to the Award winner in the SAARC region. The award is based on specific themes which apply to each year. The award recognises and promotes the commitment and talent of the youth who give back to the world at large through various initiatives such as Inventions, Protection of the Environment and Disaster relief. The recipients who receive this award are ones who have dedicated their lives to their individual causes to improve situations in their own countries as well as paving a path for the SAARC region to follow. The Committee for the SAARC Youth Award selects the best candidate based on his/her merits and their decision is final. Previous Winners: 1997: Outstanding Social Service in Community Welfare - Mr. Md. Sukur Salek (Bangladesh) 1998: New Inventions and Discoveries - Dr. Najmul Hasnain Shah (Pakistan) 2001: Creative Photography: South Asian Diversity - Mr. Mushfiqul Alam (Bangladesh) 2002: Outstanding contribution to protect the Environment - Dr. Masil Khan (Pakistan) 2003: Invention in the Field of Traditional Medicine - Mr. Hassan Sher (Pakistan) 2004: Outstanding contribution to raising awareness for TB and/or HIV/AIDS - Mr. Ajij Prasad Poudyal (Nepal) 2006: Promotion of Tourism in South Asia - Mr. Syed Zafar Abbas Naqvi (Pakistan) 2008: From Himalayan glaciers to verdant plains to coral reefs protecting the Environment in South Asia - Ms. Uswatta Liyanage Deepani Jayantha (Sri Lanka) 2009: Outstanding contribution to humanitarian works in the aftermath of Natural Disasters - Dr. Ravikant Singh (India) 2010: Outstanding contribution for the Protection of Environment and mitigation of Climate Change Ms. Anoka Primrose Abeyrathne (Sri Lanka)

South Asian Federation of Accountants

South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) is a forum of professional accountancy bodies in the SAARC Region.

MembershipCurrent members (alphabetically)

Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

Future membership

The People's Republic of China has shown its interest in joining SAARC.[8] While Pakistan and Bangladesh support China's candidature, India is against the prospect of Chinese membership. [9] However, during the 2005 Dhaka summit, India agreed on granting observer status to the PRC along with Japan. During the 14th summit, Nepal along with Pakistan and Bangladesh, announced their support for the membership of China. [10][11][12] China seeks greater involvement in SAARC, however, finds it too early to apply for full membership.[13] Indonesia intends to become an observer as well, and is supported by Sri Lanka.[14] Iran, a state with borders to two SAARC members, has traditionally enjoyed strong cultural, economic and political relationships with Afghanistan and Pakistan and has expressed its desire to become a member of the South Asian organization. On 22 February 2005, the Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi indicated Iran's interest in joining SAARC by saying that his country could provide the region with "East-West connectivity." [15] On 3 March 2007, Iran asked to join the SAARC as an observer. SAARC Secretary-General Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji responded by saying that Iran's request for observer status would be taken up during a meeting of foreign ministers at the 3 April summit in New Delhi.[12][16] Russia intends to become an observer as well and is supported by India.[17][18] Myanmar has expressed an interest in joining as a full member, even though it is already a member of the ASEAN. If done so, Myanmar will become the ninth member in the group. India is currently backing Myanmar.[19][20] Myanmars military regime officially applied for full SAARC membership in May 2008. However, the application is still being considered and the government is currently restricted to observer status.[21]

Others

South Africa has participated in meetings.[22]

[edit]Secretaries General Abul Ahsan January 16, 1987 to 15 October 1989 Kant Kishore Bhargava October 17, 1989 to December 31, 1991 Ibrahim Hussain Zaki January 1, 1992 to December 31, 1993 Yadav Kant Silwal January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1995 Naeem U. Hasan January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1998 Nihal Rodrigo January 1, 1999 to January 10, 2002 Q.A.M.A. Rahim January 11, 2002 to February 28, 2005 Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji March 1, 2005 to February 29, 2008 Sheel Kant Sharma March 1, 2008 to February 28, 2011 Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed March 1, 2011 to present [edit]SAARC summits No Date Country Host Host leader

1st 78 December 1985

Bangladesh Dhaka

Ataur Rahman Khan

2nd 1617 November 1986

India

Bangalore Rajiv Gandhi

3rd 24 November 1987

Nepal

Kathmandu Marich Man Singh Shrestha

4th 2931 December 1988

Pakistan

Islamabad Benazir Bhutto

5th 2123 November 1990

Maldives

Mal

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

6th 21 December 1991

Sri Lanka

Colombo

Dingiri Banda Wijetunge

7th 10-11 April 1993

Bangladesh Dhaka

Khaleda Zia

8th 24 May 1995

India

New Delhi P. V. Narasimha Rao

9th 1214 May 1997

Maldives

Mal

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

10th 2931 July 1998

Sri Lanka

Colombo

Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike

11th 46 January 2002

Nepal

Kathmandu Sher Bahadur Deuba

12th 26 January 2004

Pakistan

Islamabad Zafarullah Khan Jamali

13th 1213 November 2005

Bangladesh Dhaka

Khaleda Zia

14th 34 April 2007

India

New Delhi Manmohan Singh

15th 13 August 2008

Sri Lanka

Colombo

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake

16th 2829 April 2010

Bhutan

Thimphu

Jigme Thinley

17th November 2011 (Planned)[23] Maldives

Addu

Mohamed Nasheed