SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR

REGIONAL COOPERATION (SAARC)

 Official Language = English
 Headquarter = Kathmandu (Nepal)
 Location = South Asia
 Type = Inter-governmental
 Fields of Activity = Multiple (Politics, Trade, Culture
Education, science & Technology)

 Types of Governments = Islamic Republic, Republic,

Democratic-Socialist Republic, Peoples Republic,
Kingdom.
 Religions = Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity
Introduction

SAARC is an evidence of the determination of the people

of South Asia to work together towards finding solutions
to their common problems in a spirit of friendship, trust
and understanding and to create an order based on
mutual respect, justice and shared benefits.
It was established on 8 December ,1985 in Dhaka .
It is an economic and political organization of eight
countries of South Asia.
Afghanistan joined the organization in 2005.
Members & Observers

 Members:

 Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Pakistan,
Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka

 Observers:

 China, Japan, South Korea,

Myanmar, Australia, Iran,
Mauritius, the US and EU.
 Pakistan  Nepal

 India
 Bhutan

 Maldives
 Bangladesh
 Afghanistan
 Sri Lanka
 China, Iran and Myanmar.

Aspirants for Observer Statues:

1. Indonesia

2. Russia

3. South Africa

4. Turkey

Moratorium on admission of new observers since

2008.
 General Zia ur Rehman president of Bangladesh presented
an idea of creation of organization in late 1970s.

 This idea was formally presented in 1980.

 In April 1981, the foreign secretaries of 7 regional
countries met for the first time in Colombo for preparatory
work.

 In August 1983 in New Delhi, the first ever meeting of

foreign ministers of 7 countries was held and the key
agreement of SAARC was Integrated Program of Action
(IPA).
 They also launched South Asian Regional Cooperation.
 The leaders (Heads of states or governments,
i.e. Kings / Presidents or Prime Ministers) of ) &
South Asian states met in Dhaka on December
07-8, 1985 and formerly launched SAARC,
signed its charter of SAARC containing 10
articles setting out its aims, objectives,
principles, and institutional and financial
arrangements.
 The SAARC members declared that they desired
to promote “peace, stability, amity and progress
in the region,” and to address their common
problems and attain “national and collective
self-reliance” through joint efforts in various
fields.

 Article-I of SAARC charter laid down the following
objectives:
 to promote the welfare and quality of life of people;
 to accelerate economic growth, social progress and
cultural development;
 to promote and strengthen collective self-reliance of
member states;
 to build mutual trust, understanding, and appreciation
of each other’s problems;
 promote regional cooperation in economic, social,
cultural, technical and scientific fields;
 help adopt common positions in international forums
on issues of common interests
 and; to promote cooperation with other international
organizations having similar objectives.
 Article-II mentioned that the regional
cooperation would be accomplished under these
principles:
 mutual respect for sovereign equality, territorial

integrity, political independence, non-

interference in each others’ internal affairs and
mutual benefits.
 It also stated that regional cooperation would not

“substitute for bilateral and multilateral

obligations.”
 While, the general provisions (Article-X) stated

that decisions at all levels would be made on the

basis of unanimity and bilateral and contentious
issues would be excluded from the deliberations.
 According to the SAARC charter, the highest authority lies
with the heads of state or government who must meet
“every two years or earlier, if necessary.” Earlier, it provided to meet
“once a year or more often as and when considered necessary by the Member States.”
 The Council of Ministers, comprising foreign ministers, is
the second highest body.
 It meets once (previously twice) a year and its extraordinary
session can be called any time by members.
 Its responsibilities include:
 formulation of policies;
 review of progress on cooperation in agreed areas;
 taking decision on new areas of cooperation;
 establishment of additional mechanism under SAARC, and;
 making decision on other matters of general interest to
the association.
 The Standing Committee consists of foreign
secretaries, and it meets once a year (previously as often as
necessary), submits periodic reports to the Council of

Ministers and can “make reference to it as and

when necessary for decisions on policy matters.”
 The Standing Committee performs following

functions:
 overall monitoring and coordination of

programmes of cooperation;
 approval of projects and programmes, and the

modalities of their financing;

 determination of inter-sectoral priorities;
 mobilization of regional and external resources and;
 identification of news areas of cooperation on the

basis of appropriate studies.

 TheProgramming Committee includes the
senior officials of member states who must
meet at least twice a year (previously before meetings of the
Standing Committee).

 It performs functions like:

 scrutiny of the secretariat budget;
 finalization of calendar of activities of

SAARC programmes, and;

 other tasks assigned to it from time to

time by the Standing Committee.

 There exist several Technical Committees (TCs)
comprising of the representatives of member
states.
 Each TC submit its report to Standing

Committee and can use following mechanism

to perform its responsibilities;
 convene meetings of heads of national

technical agencies or experts in specific fields,

and;
 contact amongst recognized centers of

excellence in the region.

 TCs are responsible to perform these functions:
 to explore the potential and the scope of regional

cooperation in agreed areas;

 to prepare programmes and projects;
 to determine financial implications of sectoral

programmes;
 to make recommendations on apportionment of

costs;
 to implement and coordinate sectoral programmes

and;
 to monitor progress in implementation.
 The charter also provides that the Standing
Committee can establish Action Committees
comprising of representatives of concerned
sates to implement projects involving more
than two but not all SAARC members.

 Under reconstituted Regional Integrated

Programme of Action (RIPA), effective from
January 2004, five Working Groups were also
established for promoting regional
cooperation in their respective areas.
 Several meetings (1983–1991) between the heads
/officials of national planning organizations of member
states considered prospects of economic cooperation.
 However, a high level Committee on Economic
Cooperation (CEC) was formed in 1991 to identify and
implement programmes in areas of economic cooperation
and trade liberalization.
 Besides, SAARC ministerial meetings on specific areas
have also become a common practice which provides for
focused consultation and preparation of action plan for
cooperation in respective fields.
 The SAARC summit meetings provide an important
forum to regional leaders to meet regularly on annual
basis.
 The summit meetings are supposed to be held on
rotational basis in all member states.
 The host country assumes the charge of SAARC
chairmanship till the inaugural session of the next
summit when he handovers the responsibilities to the
incumbent host.
 Similarly, the foreign minister of the member state
hosting the summit meeting becomes the chairman of
the COMs.
 He holds this position till the next summit is held and
charge is handed over to the foreign minister of the
respective host country.
 COMs reviews in its inter-summit meeting the
progress on decisions of the summit meetings
and finalize the agenda, dates and venue of
upcoming summit.
 At the end of each summit a declaration is issued

which also mentions the venue of the next

meeting of SAARC apex body.
 So for, SAARC has successfully organized 18

summit meetings, as shown in the table–1.

SAARC Summit Venue (city) Country Dates

First Dhaka Bangladesh December 7–8, 1985

Second Bangalore India November 16–17, 1986

Third Katmandu Nepal November 2–4, 1987

Fourth Islamabad Pakistan December 29–31, 1988

Fifth Male Maldives November 21–23, 1990

Sixth Colombo Sri Lanka December 21, 1991

Seventh Dhaka Bangladesh April 10–11, 1993

Eighth New Delhi India May 2–4, 1995

Ninth Male Maldives May 12–14, 1997

Tenth Colombo Sri Lanka July 29–31, 1998

Eleventh Katmandu Nepal January 4–6, 2002

Twelfth Islamabad Pakistan January 4–6, 2004

Thirteenth Dhaka Bangladesh November 12–13, 2005

Fourteenth New Delhi India April 3–4, 2007

Fifteenth Colombo Sri Lanka August 2–3, 2008

Sixteenth Thimphu Bhutan April 28–29, 2010

Seventeenth Addu Maldives November 10–11, 2011

Eighteenth Katmandu Nepal November 26–27, 2014

 Under reconstituted SIPA and RIPA, several TC were
amalgamated together and their number was
reduced from eleven to seven which covered these
areas:
 Agriculture and Rural Development (also include

Livestock and Fisheries);

 Health and Population Activities (also include

nutrition and drug related issues);

 Women, Youth and Children;
 Environment and Forestry;
 Science and Technology, and Meteorology;
 Human Resource Development (include Education,

Skill Development, arts, culture and sports), and;

 Transport (Land, Water, Railway and Civil Aviation).
 The RIPA also included five working groups on:
Telecommunications, and Information and
Communication Technology (ICT);
 Biotechnology;
 Intellectual Property Rights (also include

traditional knowledge);
 Tourism, and;
 Energy.
 The SAARC Secretariat was established in Kathmandu
on 16 January 1987.
 Its role is to coordinate and monitor the implementation

of SAARC activities, service the meetings of the

association and serve as the channel of communication
between SAARC and other international organizations.
 The Secretariat comprises of the secretary-general,

seven directors, and the general services staff.

 The secretary-general is appointed by the Council of

Ministers on the principle of rotation, for a non-

renewable tenure of three years.
 Secretary-General

Arjun Bahadur Thapa, Secretary

General of SAARC
S. Name Country Tenure of Service
No. From To

1. Abul Ahsan Bangladesh 16 Jan 1987 15 Oct 1989

2. Kant Kishore Bhargava India 17 Oct 1989 31 Dec 1991
3. Ibrahim Hussain Zaki Maldives 1 Jan 1992 31 Dec 1993
4. Yadab Kant Silwal Nepal 1 Jan 1994 31 Dec 1995
5. Naeem Hasan Pakistan 1 Jan 1996 31 Dec 1998
6. Nihal Rodrigo Sri Lanka 1 Jan 1999 10 Jan 2002
7. Q.A.M.A. Rahim Bangladesh 11 Jan 2002 28 Feb 2005
8. L. Chenkyab Dorji Bhutan 1 Mar 2005 29 Feb 2008
9. Sheel Kant Sharma India 1 Mar 2008 28 Feb 2011
10. Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed Maldives 1 Mar 2011 22 Jan 2012
 The SAARC members had realized that regional
centres could play an important role in harnessing
regional resources and capabilities and resolving
their common problems. They must, however,
pursue “action and result–oriented programmes.”
 Earlier, while considering a report on

administrative structuring and financing of

regional institutions, the members agreed that the
establishment of such institutions should be
justified on the basis of their efficiency, viability
and potential economic benefits for the member
states.
 Subsequently, the members established the
following regional institutions:
 the SAARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC) at

Dhaka (1988) renamed as the SAARC Agricultural

Centre (SAC) in 2006;
 the SAARC Tuberculosis Centre (STC) in Nepal

(1992);
 the SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC) in India

(1994);
 the SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC)

at Dhaka (1995);
 SAARC Information Centre in Katmandu (2005);
 the SAARC Cultural Centre (SCC) in Kandy (2005);
 the Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC)
in Islamabad (1988);
 the SAARC Energy Centre (SEC) in Islamabad;
 the SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre

(SCZMC) in the Maldives (2004),

 the SAARC Forestry Centre (SFC) in Bhutan (2007),
 the SAARC Disaster Management Centre (SDMC) in

India (2006) and

 the South Asian University in New Delhi, India

(2010).
 The members apportion funds in their
national budgets and annually announce it in
Standing Committee meetings, for SAARC
activities and programs and contribute on an
agreed formula for the annual budget of the
secretariat and the regional institutions.
 The host country bears 40 percent of the

institutional cost of regional institution while the

rest of the expenditures are met by others
members on an agreed formula. The host
country bears the capital expenditure of the
regional institutions while programme
expenditures are met by all members.
 In 1991, they had created a SAARC Fund for Regional
Projects (SFRP), managed by a Regional Council of
Development Financing Institutions of the SAARC
members, for provision of loans to identify and develop
regional projects.
 The members also created a SAARC Regional Fund (SRF)
to help implement approved projects.
 The sources of the SRF included donations from the
private sector and grants from donors including foreign
governments, and international organizations and
agencies etc. In June 1996, SFRP and SRF were merged to
establish a “three -window” South Asian Development
Fund (SADF) headquartered in Dhaka.
 In 2005, they established a SAARC Poverty
Alleviation Fund (SPAF) under SADF, which has
been reconstituted as SAARC Development Fund
(SDF) to serve as “the umbrella financial
institution for all SAARC projects and
programmes.”
 The SDF include three windows: social,

infrastructure and economic. The working and

decision–making in SDF is consistent with the
SAARC Charter.
 The fund is operational and SDF secretariat is set

up in Thimphu, Bhutan.
 Agreement on Establishing the SAARC Food
Security Reserve (SFSR)

In 1987 during the 3rd summit meeting of SAARC, an agreement was

signed on establishing the SAARC food security reserve. An
agreement came into force on 12 August 1988, provided for a
reserve of food grains for the emergency use.
The reserve’s size is 241580 tones.

In order to make SAARC Food Security Reserve more effective, they

established SAARC Food Bank (SFB) to help manage emergencies
during calamities and food shortages in normal time.
They established a SFP Board in October 2008 and adopted SAARC
Regional Strategy (SRS) as well as Regional Programme for Food
Security (RPFS).
SAARC Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA)
On 11 April 1993 during the seventh summit
meeting of SAARC the agreement on SAPTA was
signed by the member states.

SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement)

On January 6, 2004, the SAARC members signed
the agreement on SAFTA.
Their aim was to create a free trade zone within a
period of 10 years for about 1.5 billion people.
It entered into force in mid 2006.
Large-scale terrorist violence continues to beset South Asia today. The
inclusion of Afghanistan as the eighth member of the SAARC adds a new
dimension to this violence.

The SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism was

signed during the 3rd SAARC Summit (Kathmandu, November 1987).

It came into force on 22 August 1988.

This Convention provides for a regional approach to well-established

principles of international law in respect of terrorist offenses.

It includes such provisions as sharing of information on terrorist

activities and extraditions.
 Article VIII of the Convention emphatically states
that “contracting States shall cooperate among
themselves, to the extent permitted by their
national laws, through consultations between
appropriate agencies, exchange of information,
intelligence and expertise and such other
cooperative measures as may be appropriate,
with a view to preventing terroristic activities
through precautionary measures” (SAARC 1988).

 This Convention led to the establishment of a
SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk
(STOMD) in Colombo in 1990 primarily to
collate, analyze, and disseminate information
about the terrorist incidences, tactics, strategies,
and methods.
 In 2004, they signed the Additional Protocol to the
SAARC Regional Convention on Combating
Terrorism and subsequently ratified it.
 The members decided to strengthen cooperation

among their relevant agencies and to hold annual

meetings of their interior secretaries and ministers.
 They also signed the SAARC Convention on Mutual

Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

 The SAARC countries expressed their concerns

over “the growing linkages between drug

trafficking and international arms trade and
terrorist activities.”
 They also signed the SAARC Convention on

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

during Male summit. It became effective in
 SAARC members concluded the following
agreements and conventions in order to promote
and strengthen cooperation in various fields:

 1. SAARC Charter (December 1985)
 2. SAARC Social Charter (January 2004)
 3. Charter of SAARC Development Fund (July 2008)
 4. SAARC Charter of Democracy (February 2011)
 5. Memorandum on the Establishment of the

SAARC Secretariat (November 1986)

 6. Agreement for Establishment of SAARC

Arbitration Council (November 2005)

 7. Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation
and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax
Matters (November 2005)
 8. Agreement on Mutual Administrative

Assistance in Customs Matters (November 2005)

 9. Agreement on the SAARC Food Security

Reserve (November 1987)

 10. Agreement on Establishing the SAARC Food

Bank (April 2007)

 11. Agreement on South Asian Preferential

Arrangement (SAPTA) (April 1993)

 12. Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area

(SAFTA) (January 2004)

 13. Agreement on the Establishment of South
Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO)
(August 2008)
 14. Agreement on Trade in Services (April 2010)
 15. SAARC Framework Agreement for Energy

Cooperation (Electricity) (November 2014)

 16. Agreement for Establishment of South Asian

University, New Delhi (April 2007)

 17. Convention on Combating and Prevention of

Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution

(January 2002)
 18. Convention on Regional Arrangements for the

Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia (January

2002)
 19. Convention on Mutual Assistance on Criminal
Matters (July 2008)
 20. Convention on Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic

Substances (November 1990)

 21. SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of

Terrorism (November 1987)

 22. Additional Protocol to the SAARC Regional

Convention on Suppression of Terrorism (January

2004).
 Clash of ideologies and civilizations
 Political disputes
 Differences on approaches to cooperation
 Lack of people to people contacts

 Different political system

 Impact of cold war
 Disparities in size, population and level of

economic development
 India’s ambitions to establish its

domination
 The future of SAARC seems uncertain.
The reason is that the culture of the member
countries is not same, the people to people
contacts are very limited and India’s attitude
towards the member countries.
 SAARC is the weakest regional organization
of the world its population is 1.5 billion, its
problems are numerous and they demand
urgent solution. The bigger countries should
look after the LDCs (less-developed
countries), the goals should be made
realistic, so that they can easily be achieved.