South Asian Association for

Regional Cooperation

Prepared By:
Arslan Ahmed
Atif Alvi
Ali Khan
Zahid Mehmood
Ali Rahman
Aneeqa Ejaz
 SAARC is an eco-political organization of 8 South Asian
nations, which was established on 8 December 1985 for
friendship and cooperation among themselves and with other
developing countries.

 Covering a population of more than 2 billion, SAARC is the

largest regional organization in the world.
 Idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was discussed in atleast
three conferences:
1-the Asians Relations Conference in New Delhi in April 1947
2-the Baguio Conference in the Philippines in May 1950,
3-the Colombo Powers Conference in April 1954

 The first concrete proposal for establishing a framework for

regional cooperation in South Asia was made by the late president
of Bangladesh, Zia-ur-Rehman, on May 2, 1980.

 Established on 8 December 1985.

 Its seven founding members are Sri Lanka,

Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
 Respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, political equality and
independence of all members states.

 Non-interference in the internal matters.

 Cooperation for mutual benefit.

 All decisions to be taken unanimously.

 All bilateral issues to be kept aside and only multilateral issues to

be discussed.
 Welfare of the people of south Asia.

 Economic growth, social progress and cultural development .

 Strengthen selective self-reliance among the countries of south

Asia.

 Understanding and appreciation of one another's problems.

 Strengthen cooperation among themselves as well as with other

developing countries and international and regional organizations

 Maintain peace in the region.

1. Afghanistan ( joined the organization in 2007)
2. Bangladesh
3. Bhutan
4. India
5. Maldives
6. Nepal
7. Pakistan
8. Sri Lanka
1. Australia
2. China
3. European Union
4. Japan
5. Iran
6. Mauritius
7. Myanmar
8. S. Korea
9. USA
 Myanmar has expressed interest in
upgrading it's status from an observer to a full
member of SAARC.

 Russia has expressed interest in

becoming an observer of SAARC.

OTHERS

 South Africa has participated in meetings.

 At the top, there is the Council represented by
the heads of the government of the member
countries. The council is the apex policy
making body. It meets once in 2 years time.
** It is to assist the council. It is represented by the foreign
ministers of the member countries. Its functions
include:

 Formulation of policies

 Review of functioning

 Deciding new areas of cooperation

 Chalk out additional mechanism

 Decide about general issues of common interests of the

SAARC members.
** It is comprised by the foreign secretarian of the
member government. Its major functions are:

 To monitor and co-ordinate the programmes

 To determine inter-sectored priorities

 To mobilize cooperation within and outside the

region

 To deal with the modalities of financing.

** It consist of the senior official of the member
governments. Its functions include:

 Scrutinizing the budget of the secretariat

 Finalizing the annual schedule

 External activities assigned by the standing

Committee

 Analyses the respects of the technical committee.

**It consist of the represented of the member nations. Its
function are:

 To formulate project and programmes

 To monitor and execute the projects

 To submit reports.

 Cover Areas like Agriculture, Communication,

Environment, Rural Development, Health and
Population, Science and Technology, Tourism and
Transport
** The SAARC secretariat is located in Nepal. The
secretariat is headed by the secretary-General
appointed by the Council of Ministers. Its function
include:

 Coordination, execution and monitoring of

SAARC activities

 Servicing the SAARC meetings

 Works as communication link between the SAARC

and other international forums.
 Agriculture & Biotechnology

 Trade & Finance

 Education

 Information , Communication & Media

 Science & Technology

 Energy & Environment

 Tourism & Social Development

 Culture

 People-to-People Contacts
 The acceleration of economic growth is a Charter objective of
SAARC. Corporation in core areas of trade and finance b/w the
SAARC members in 1991.

The following important processes of SAARC are

promoting cooperation in the field of Trade, Economy
and Finance

 Customs Cooperation

 South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) (Custom Duties down to

20%)

 SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA)

 The dispute over Kashmir’s accession to India
has been standing in the way of the lasting
peace and prosperity of the Indian
subcontinent as well as SAARC.
 Agreement for establishment of SAARC Arbitration Council

 Final Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation

 Final Agreement on Customs Matters

 CHARTER OF SDF 31 July 2008

 Agreement on establishing the SAARC food bank

 Agreement on south Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)

 Agreement on the Establishment of South Asian Regional Standards

Organization (SARSO)

 Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation

 Ministerial Declaration on Global Economic Crisis

 Colombo Statement on Children of South Asia

 Declaration on Cooperation in Combating Terrorism

 Islamabad Declaration on Health, 2005

 Colombo Declaration on a Common Environment Program

 Common Position on Climate Change, Nov. 1998

 Rawalpindi Resolution on Children of South Asia, Aug. 1996

 New Delhi Declaration of Environment Ministers, Apr, 1997

 Declaration of Commerce Ministers May 1998

  SAARC Convention on Combating and
Prevention of Trafficking in Women and
Children for Prostitution
The purpose of this Convention is to effectively deal with the various
aspects of prevention and suppression of trafficking in women and
children and to prevent the use of women and children prostitution
networks.

 Convention on Promotion of Welfare of

Children

The purpose of this Convention is to promote cooperation amongst

Member States so that they take effective steps for the welfare of
children.
 Convention on Mutual Assistance on
Criminal Matters and Suppression of
Terrorism

The States Parties shall provide widest possible measures

of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, namely
investigations, prosecution and resulting proceedings.

 SAARC Convention Narcotics Drugs

Important steps have been taken to enforce the

provisions of the Regional Convention on Narcotic
Drugs.
1st Summit (Dec 1985):
Venue: Dhaka
 Reaffirmation of the UN Charter and respect for
each other’s sovereignty.
 Concern over the global economic crisis.

 Declaration of belief in the objectives and the

continued relevance of the Non Aligned
Movement.
 Expression of concern over the poverty in the
SAARC region and commitment to improving
social and economic conditions
2nd Summit (1986):
Venue: Bangalore
 Rehash of the goals and statements of the first
summit.
 Strengthening of ties between member states.
 Condemned terrorism.

3rd Summit (1987):

Venue: Kathmandu
 Decision to initiate study of natural disasters and
its after-effects.
 Expression of satisfaction over progress in
implementation of IPA.
 Call for increased people to people contact and
greater NGOs participation.
4th Summit (1988)
Venue: Islamabad
 Expression of outrage over attempted coup in
Maldives and declaration of support to her
government.
 1989 declared as the “SAARC Year Against Drug
Abuse.”
 1990 declared as the "SAARC Year of the Girl Child".
 Launch of "SAARC-2000-A Basic Needs Perspective".

5th Summit (1990):

Venue: Male
 Decision to build the SAARC Tuberculosis Centre and
the SAARC Documentation Centre in Bangladesh and
India respectively.
 Declaration of the period 1991-2000 as the “Decade of
the girl child”.
6th Summit (1991):
Venue: Colombo.
 Decision to establish an independent South Asian
Commission on Poverty Alleviation.
 Approval for the Inter Governmental Group to be set up.


7th Summit (1993):

Venue: Dhaka
 Commitment to end poverty in South Asia by 2002 through
a set of strategies known as the “Agenda of Actions.”
 Appreciation for the first ever South Asian festival of
SAARC Countries held in 1992. The festival promoted
culture.

8th Summit (1995):

Venue: Delhi
 1994 marked as the SAARC Year of Youth.
 1996 marked as the SAARC Year of Literacy.
9th Summit (1997):
Venue: Male
 1997 designated the "SAARC Year of Participatory Governance" .
 Agreement to study the social compulsions that lead to child
labour.

10th Summit (1998):

Venue: Colombo
 Decision to setup a committee of experts to aide in the formulation
of SAFTA.
 Directive for the formulation of SAARC’s social charter issued.

11th Summit (2002):

Venue: Kathmandu

12th Summit (2004):

Venue: Islamabad
13th Summit (2005):
Venue: Dhaka
 2006-2015 declared as the “Decade of Poverty Alleviation”.
 Agreements signed related to customs assistance, arbitration and tax
assistance.

14th Summit (2007):

Venue: Dehli
 SAARC Agenda for Culture launched.
 South Asian university to be established in India.

15th Summit (2008):

Venue: Colombo.

16th Summit(2010):
Venue: Thimpu
 Agreement to form the South Asia Forum.

17th Summit (2011):

Venue: Addu Citty
 Declarations and endorsements.
Meetings held between the ministers of
member states of various portfolios.
More than 30 such meetings have been
held.
Rawalpindi Resolution:
 August 1996

 Related to the issue of children rights.

 Declaration of safeguarding of rights of

children to an education plus curbing child
labor.

Environment Ministers meeting:

 April 1997

 Reaffirmation of goals of international

conventions.
 Proposal for environmental safeguarding of
South Asian seas.
Commerce Minister’s Meeting:
 May 1998.
 Held in Geneva right after the WTO ministerial
meeting.
 Joint statement demanding the rights of
developing nations.

Islamabad Declaration:
 July 2005
 Related to health issues.
 Agreement to setup Expert Group on Population
to aide sharing of expertise and experience related
to population issues.
 Emphasis laid on achieving the MDGs and on
allocating a larger share of GDP on health related
matters.
Cooperation in Counter Terrorism:
 Colombo 2009.

 Ratification and implementation of SAARC

Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in
Criminal Matters.
 Establishment of High Level Group of Eminent
Experts.
 SAPTA(SAARC preferential trading arrangement)was
signed on 7 December, 1995

 SAFTA(South Asian Free Trade Area) was signed in

Islamabad in January 2004

 SAARC chamber of commerce and industry (SCCI)

 SAARC constitutes South Asian Development Fund(SADF)

 Signed an agreement of mutual assistance.

 Avoidance of double taxation were signed.

 Agriculture
 Rural development
 Science and technology
 Health
 Transport
 Sports
 Arts
 Culture and
 Population activities
 Till 2013 going to establish a common university for
education in Delhi

POVERTY ALLEVIATION
 Regional food security essence

 Promoted global objective of shelter for all.

 Convention on terrorism was signed in November,1987

 SAARC convention on narcotic drugs signed on

November, 1990

 SAARC terrorist offences monitoring desk(STOMD)

 SAARC drug offences monitoring desk(SDOMD)

• SAVE (SARRC Audio Visual Exchange) was
implemented.

• Library of SAARC

• Talks between countries leads to the diffusion

of tension
 India tries to dominate the function and activities
of SAARC

 Large variety of different political system

 Large variety regional and cultural differences

 They lack financial resources and advance

technologies

 Involvement of external actors

 Internal problems constituting social economic
and developmental and growth issues.

 Bilateral disputes and differences

 Food Security Reserve failed to meet the need

of Bangladesh

 Suffers from an acute resource crunch