South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation

The South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental
organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its
member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The SAARC
comprises 3% of the world's area, 21% of the world's population
and 4.21% (US$3.67 trillion)[3] of the global economy, as of 2019.

The SAARC was founded in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.[4] Its

secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The organization
promotes development of economic and regional integration.[5] It
launched the South Asian Free Trade Area in 2006.[6] The
SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the United
Nations as an observer and has developed links with multilateral
entities, including the European Union.

Historical background[edit]
The idea of co-operation among South Asian Countries
was discussed in three conferences: the Asian Relations
Conference held in New Delhi in April 1947; the Baguio
Conference in the Philippines in May 1950; and
the Colombo Powers Conference held in Sri Lanka in April
1954.[7]

In the ending years of the 1970s, the seven inner South

Asian nations that included Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka agreed upon
the creation of a trade bloc and to provide a platform for
the people of South Asia to work together in a spirit of
friendship, trust, and understanding. President Ziaur
Rahman later addressed official letters to the leaders of
the countries of the South Asia, presenting his vision for
the future of the region and the compelling arguments for
region.[8] During his visit to India in December 1977,
Rahman discussed the issue of regional cooperation with
the Indian Prime Minister, Morarji Desai. In the inaugural
speech to the Colombo Plan Consultative Committee
which met in Kathmandu also in 1977, King Birendra of
Nepal gave a call for close regional cooperation among
South Asian countries in sharing river waters.[9]

After the USSR's intervention in Afghanistan, the efforts to

establish the union was accelerated in 1979 and the
resulting rapid deterioration of South Asian security
situation.[9] Responding to Rahman and Birendra's
convention, the officials of the foreign ministries of
the seven countries met for the first time in Colombo in
April 1981.[9] The Bangladeshi proposal was promptly
endorsed by Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives
but India and Pakistan were sceptical initially.[9] The Indian
concern was the proposal's reference to the security
matters in South Asia and feared that Rahman's proposal
for a regional organisation might provide an opportunity for
new smaller neighbours to re-internationalize all bilateral
issues and to join with each other to form an opposition
against India. Pakistan assumed that it might be an Indian
strategy to organize the other South Asian countries
against Pakistan and ensure a regional market for Indian
products, thereby consolidating and further strengthening
India's economic dominance in the region.[9]

However, after a series of diplomatic consultations headed

by Bangladesh between South Asian U.N. representatives
at the UN headquarters in New York, from September
1979 to 1980, it was agreed that Bangladesh would
prepare the draft of a working paper for discussion among
the foreign secretaries of South Asian countries.[9] The
foreign secretaries of the inner seven countries again
delegated a Committee of the Whole in Colombo in
September 1981, which identified five broad areas for
regional cooperation. New areas of co-operation were
added in the following years.[10]

In 1983, the international conference held in Dhaka by its

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign ministers of
the inner seven countries adopted the Declaration on
South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
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.
 Officially, the union was established
in Dhaka with Kathmandu being the union's secretariat-
general.[13] The first SAARC summit was held in Dhaka on
7–8 December 1985 and hosted by the President of
Bangladesh Hussain Ershad.[14] The declaration signed by
King of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuk, President of
Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq, Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi,
King of Nepal Birendra Shah, President of Sri Lanka JR
Jayewardene, and President of Maldives Maumoon
Gayoom.

India is SAARC‘s engine of growth.

India, given its size, population, economy and central
location is indeed the pivot of SAARC . It has common
land/sea borders with six of the seven other members
which places it in an unquestionable leadership role.
Unfortunately, due to these very reasons often India willy-
nilly becomes the target for its SAARC neighbours who
suffer from the "Big Brother Syndrome”.

The coming to power of the new NDA government in India

in May, 2014 accorded greater priority to regional
cooperation under SAARC. The presence of all the
SAARC leaders at the swearing-in ceremony of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and the new government was an
unprecedented and a welcome change. Prime Minister
Modi made it clear that making the region peaceful, stable
and prosperous is one of his main objectives. He also
emphasizes the desirability of all SAARC countries
working together for ending the endemic poverty in the
region.PM Modi has already been on successful visits to
Afghanistan, Bangladesh ,Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and
Sri Lanka and even to Pakistan and China. India also
hosted leaders from several of our neighbours. In fact as I
speak to you Mrs Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of
Bangladesh is in India and wide ranging cooperation is in
the pipeline.

India remains steadfast and committed to SAARC and has

made significant contributions to this asymmetric
relationship – as per MEA data some of which are;

India because of its geography, economy, international

stature and commitment to the region is central to SAARC.
The SAARC region has acute asymmetrical power
balance as India encompasses more than 75 percent of
the region’s GDP and more than 70 percent of population,
territorial dependency in India is high and it possesses
enormous military power compared to other countries in
the region. India has a special responsibility flowing from
the geography of the region and the size of its economy.
Taking the region along in our march towards progress
and prosperity is both an economic and demographic
imperative. India has so far contributed over US$ 530.-
million to SAARC institutions for socio-economic
development.

The unprecedented invitation by Prime Minister Modi to

the leaders of SAARC for the swearing-in ceremony on
26th May 2014 indicated India’s intent and commitment to
building cordial, friendly and inclusive ties with the
countries of South Asia. Prime Minister also held
substantive bilateral meetings with each of the visiting
leaders

The first engagement of the Prime Minister with SAARC

was at the XVIII Summit in Kathmandu in November,
2014. India made a number of unilateral offers at the
Summit, notably, to build a SAARC Satellite, monitor polio-
free countries and provide polio and pentavalent vaccines
to the children of South Asia, liberalize the regime of
business and medical visas, increase intra-regional
tourism, promote use of solar energy, increase cross-
border physical, digital and knowledge connectivity, lshare
its expertise in disaster management and mitigation etc.

In fulfilment of the announcements made by the Prime

Minister at the XVIII SAARC Summit,(i) India has
contributed US$ 1.05 million for up gradation of the
SAARC Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS Centre laboratory in
Kathmandu to a supranational laboratory (ii) A delegation
from Afghanistan visited India in November, 2015 to
participate in the polio immunization drive and learn from
our best practices (iii) India organized the first ever South
Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise(SAADMEx)
from 23-26th November, 2015 in New Delhi to provide
participants a practical, realistic exercise aiming to
address the diverse strategic issues of a multi-national
disaster relief operation and coordination (iv) The regime
of Indian business and medical visas have been
liberalized for SAARC nationals (v) India has set up a
Special Purpose Facility(SPF) to finance infrastructure
projects in the region that would enhance our connectivity
and trade.

India was the first country to reach out to Nepal in the

aftermath of the devastating earthquake. Our emergency
assistance drew appreciation from all quarters.

India’s emphasis is on three central themes of SAARC-

trade, connectivity and people-to- people contact.

India has hosted key meetings of SAARC Ministers of

Transport, Home, Finance, Trade, Agriculture, Culture,
Health, Environment, Education and Science &
Technology. It has organized a number of training
programmes/workshops/seminars on subjects as diverse
as space technology to performance management, digital
economy to tourism.

India hosts the prestigious South Asian University. It is

committed to provide 100% of its capital costs including
100 acres of land for its permanent campus in New Delhi.
India provides one hundred fully paid up scholarships at
the South Asian University for students from SAARC
LDCs. It also provides post-graduate and doctoral studies
scholarships at the Indian Forest Research Institute,
Dehradun. Besides, India offers two scholarships to each
Member State annually through ICCR under the SAARC
Chair, Fellowship and scholarship schemes.

The 12th South Asian Games were held from 6-16th

February, 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, under the
auspices of South Asia Olympic Council. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi inaugurated the Games.

At the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, India offered to

develop and launch a satellite dedicated to SAARC
countries. India has called for a Regional Air Services
Agreement and offered to help in creating an enabling
environment to reduce telecommunications costs to
improve connectivity. It is also the prime mover behind the
proposed Motor Vehicles Agreement and the Railways
Agreement. India is also actively engaged in
implementation of the SAARC Framework Agreement for
Energy Cooperation which offers a conducive environment
to facilitate cross border electricity trade within the SAARC
region.
India’s trade with South Asia accounts for around 5.5% of
its global trade. We have been advocating expedited
negotiations/implementation of agreements, promoting
investments, trade, exchanges in the region. Under
SAFTA, India has unilaterally offered duty free access on
all items to the SAARC LDCs and has met the Phase II
commitments for non-LDCs. It has zero tariff for goods
coming from LDCs. We are eliminating 455 out of 480
tariff lines in our Sensitive Lists for LDCs.

India is ready with its schedules of commitments for early

operationalisation of SAARC Agreement on Trade in
Services(SATIS). Our approach is to lead in tariff
reduction and eliminate sensitive lists in a calibrated, yet,
progressive way.

The fledgling SAARC Development Fund(SDF) finances

sub-regional projects envisaged under its social, economic
and infrastructure windows. India is the only country to
have paid its assessed contribution( for the entire 5 year
period) of US$ 89.9 million and a voluntary contribution of
US$ 100 million.

A currency swap arrangement for the region, with a base

fund of US$ 2 billion from India provides short term foreign
exchange liquidity requirements of Member States.

The tele-education project for SAARC countries initiated

by India benefits the target student community.

India has been extending financial support to a number of

cultural organizations working for regional integration in
the SAARC context. SAARC Bands Festival, Literature
Festival and Crafts Festivals, Folklore Festivals have
become annual features. A SAARC Museum of Textiles
and Handicrafts and Training Centre is being established
in New Delhi

The tele-medicine project in Afghanistan offered by India

runs successfully. The regime of Indian medical visas has
been liberalized for SAARC nationals.

India understands and appreciates the concern over the

challenge of climate change in the region. It has
established an Endowment for Climate Change with a
corpus of Rs. 25 crores to finance environment related
projects. India has unilaterally undertaken several regional
projects in the fields of solar rural electrification, rainwater
harvesting, seed testing etc.

India’s proactive stance since 2004 as part of its new

approach to the countries in the neighborhood has been a
transformative factor in ensuring the gradual and
irreversible transition of the organization from its
declaratory to implementation mode. India’s commitment
to shoulder more than its assessed responsibilities, in an
asymmetric and non-reciprocal manner, has resonated
well within the region

Apart from the ambit of SAARC, India has taken several

initiatives to improve bilateral relations with all the member
countries without exception. India’s historic free trade
arrangements with Bhutan and Nepal have been
expanded to include a FTA with Sri Lanka and significant
liberalisation of market access for Bangladesh’s principal
exports, namely textiles. India had extended the MFN
status to Pakistan way back in 1996 and waited for
decades for Pakistan’s grant of Non-Discriminatory Market
Access to it that is also prescribed in the very first article of
WTO. India is committed to the economic development of
Afghanistan and already has allocated US$ 2 billion on
important infrastructure projects in the energy and
highway sectors among others. Denial of transit access by
Pakistan to Afghanistan has obliged India to develop the
Chabahar Port facility in Iran for accessing both
Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics. India has
also extended billions of dollars worth of lines of credit to
her neighbours in the spirit of " Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”.