The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional grouping of eight countries in South Asia. It was created to promote economic growth, social progress and cultural ties in the region. Here is a simple guide.
How it began
SAARC was founded at a summit in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first pushed by Bangladesh. The secretariat was set up in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1987.
Members
SAARC has eight members:
- Afghanistan, which joined in 2007
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- India
- Maldives
- Nepal
- Pakistan
- Sri Lanka
Several countries and the European Union have observer status.
Aims
- Improve the quality of life of people in South Asia.
- Speed up economic growth and social progress.
- Build trust and cooperation among members.
- Work together in areas like agriculture, health, education, trade and disaster management.
Decisions are taken by consensus, and bilateral disputes are kept out of SAARC discussions.
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Achievements
- South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA): came into force in 2006 to lower tariffs among members.
- South Asian University: set up in New Delhi by SAARC members.
- SAARC Development Fund: supports regional projects.
- SAARC Food Bank and agreements on disaster response.
- In 2017, India launched the South Asia Satellite for use by neighbouring countries, an idea India had first proposed for SAARC.
Why SAARC has stalled
The last SAARC summit, the 18th, was held in Kathmandu in 2014. The 19th summit was to be held in Islamabad in 2016. After a terror attack on an Army camp in Uri, India said it would not attend, and several other members also pulled out. The summit was postponed, and no summit has been held since. India has said terrorism and regional cooperation cannot go together.
Intra regional trade in South Asia also remains low compared with other regions, due to trade barriers and political tensions.
BIMSTEC as an alternative
India has given more attention to BIMSTEC, a grouping of countries around the Bay of Bengal that includes five SAARC members along with Myanmar and Thailand, but not Pakistan.
Cooperation that continues
Even without summits, some SAARC bodies and programmes continue at a technical level. In 2020, India proposed a SAARC Covid emergency fund and pledged an initial contribution, showing that the platform can still be used in a crisis.
Bottom line
SAARC was built to bring South Asia together, and it achieved some steps like SAFTA. But political tensions have kept it frozen since 2016, pushing India to focus on other regional groups.
Source / स्रोत: SAARC Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs, South Asian University
