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Relevance of SAARC "EMPOWER IAS"

Relevance of SAARC "EMPOWER IAS"

 

Context

  • Despite the framework SAARC provides for cooperation amongst South Asian nations, it has remained sidelined and dormant since its 18th summit of 2014 in Kathmandu. No alternative capable of bringing together South Asian countries for mutually beneficial diplomacy has emerged.

 

Common challenges facing South Asia

  • The region is beset with unsettled territorial disputes, as well as trans-border criminal and subversive activities and cross-border terrorism.
  • The region also remains a theatre for ethnic, cultural, and religious tensions and rivalries besides a current rise in ultra-nationalism
  • Nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan are at loggerheads.
  • US military withdrawal from Afghanistan has fuelled fears of intensification of these trends.

 

SAARC:

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.

  • The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first raised in November 1980. After consultations, the foreign secretaries of the seven founding countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981.
     
    • Afghanistan became the newest member of SAARC at the 13th annual summit in 2005.
    • The Headquarters and Secretariat of the Association are at Kathmandu, Nepal.

 

Principles

  • Cooperation within the framework of the SAARC shall be 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 shall not be a substitute for bilateral and multilateral cooperation but shall complement them.
    • Such cooperation shall not be inconsistent with bilateral and multilateral obligations.

 

Members of SAARC

  • SAARC comprises of eight member States:https://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/828sm-830x587.png
     
    • Afghanistan
    • Bangladesh
    • Bhutan
    • India
    • Maldives
    • Nepal
    • Pakistan
    • Sri Lanka
  • There are currently nine Observers to SAARC, namely: (i) Australia; (ii) China; (iii) the European Union; (iv) Iran; (v) Japan; (vi) the Republic of Korea; (vii) Mauritius; (viii) Myanmar; and (ix) the United States of America.

Areas of Cooperation

  • Human Resource Development and Tourism
  • Agriculture and Rural Development
  • Environment, Natural Disasters and Biotechnology
  • Economic, Trade and Finance
  • Social Affairs
  • Information and Poverty Alleviation
  • Energy, Transport, Science and Technology
  • Education, Security and Culture and Others

 

The Objectives of the SAARC

  • 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 potentials.
  • 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 interests; and
  • To cooperate with international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes.

 

Significance of SAARC

  • As the largest regional cooperation organisation, SAARC’s importance in stabilising and effectively transforming the region is becoming increasingly self-evident.
  • SAARC is needed as institutional scaffolding to allow for the diplomacy and coordination that is needed between member-states in order to adequately address the numerous threats and challenges the region faces.
  • Though SAARC’s charter prohibits bilateral issues at formal forums, SAARC summits provide a unique, informal window — the retreat — for leaders to meet without aides and chart future courses of action.
  • The coming together of leaders, even at the height of tensions, in a region laden with congenital suspicions, misunderstandings, and hostility is a significant strength of SAARC that cannot be overlooked.
  • In March last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seized the Covid-19 crisis and utilised SAARC’s seal to convene a video conference of SAARC leaders.
  • Such capacity to bring member-states together shows the potential power of SAARC.

SAARC Achievements

  • Free Trade Area (FTA): SAARC is comparatively a new organization in the global arena. The member countries have established a Free Trade Area (FTA) which will increase their internal trade and lessen the trade gap of some states considerably.
  • SAPTA: South Asia Preferential Trading Agreement for promoting trade amongst the member countries came into effect in 1995.
  • SAFTA: A Free Trade Agreement confined to goods, but excluding all services like information technology. Agreement was signed to reduce customs duties of all traded goods to zero by the year 2016.
  • SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS): SATIS is following the GATS-plus 'positive list' approach for trade in services liberalization.
  • SAARC University: Establish a SAARC university in India, a food bank and also an energy reserve in Pakistan.

 

Significance for India

  • Neighbourhood first: Primacy to the country’s immediate neighbours.
  • Geostrategic significance: Can counter China (OBOR initiative) through engaging Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka in development process and economic cooperation.
  • Regional stability: SAARC can help in creation of mutual trust and peace within the region.
  • Global leadership role: It offers India a platform to showcase its leadership in the region by taking up extra responsibilities.
  • Game changer for India’s Act East Policy: by linking South Asian economies with South East asian will bring further economic integration and prosperity to India mainly in the Services Sector.

 

What role SAARC can play in Afghanistan

  • Commitment to get rid of terrorism: The third SAARC summit in 1987 adopted a Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and updated it in 2004 with the signing of an additional protocol.
  • These instruments demonstrate the collective commitment to rid the region of terror and promote regional peace, stability, and prosperity.
  • Using the network of institutions: In 36 years of existence, SAARC has developed a dense network of institutions, linkages, and mechanisms.
  • SAARC members are among the top troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions.
  • Joint peacekeeping force: With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a joint peacekeeping force from the SAARC region under the UN aegis could be explored to fill the power vacuum that would otherwise be filled by terrorist and extremist forces.

 

Need For Reviving SAARC

  • Regional Disconnect: Over the past year, India-Pakistan issues have impacted other meetings of SAARC. This makes it easier for member countries and international agencies, to deal with South Asia as a fragmented group rather than a collective one.
    • No other regional power is as disconnected from its immediate neighbourhood as India.
    • This disconnect is a challenge to India’s economic and security interests.
  • Impact of Covid-19: The impact of Covid-19, is a growing distaste for ‘globalisation’ and growing preference for nativism, self-dependence and localising supply chains.
    • While it will be impossible for countries to entirely cut themselves off from the global market, regional initiatives will become the golden mean between globalisation and hyper-nationalism.
    • Moreover, reviving SAARC is crucial to countering the common challenges brought about by the pandemic.
    • According to a World Bank report, the South Asian countries are expected to lose nearly about 10.77 million jobs and $52.32 billion in GDP alone from the impact of the pandemic.
  • Dealing With China: It is clear that tensions with Pakistan and Nepal amplify the threat perception from China, while other SAARC members (minus Bhutan), all of whom are Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)  partners of China will be hard placed to help individually.
    • Also, in the current pandemic, China is sending medicines, personal protective equipment kits, and promising vaccines to most SAARC countries as part of its “Health Silk Road” initiative.
    • Therefore, in dealing with China’s challenge, both at India’s borders and in its neighbourhood, a unified South Asian platform remains India’s most potent countermeasure.