South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

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.[9]

A clickable Euler diagram showing the relationships between various Asian regional organisations v • d • e

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 South Asia, presenting his vision for the future of the region and compelling arguments for co-operation.[10] 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.[11]

After the USSR's intervention in Afghanistan, efforts to establish the union were accelerated in 1979 amid the resulting rapid deterioration of the South Asian security situation.[11] Responding to Rahman and Birendra's convention, officials of the foreign ministries of the seven countries met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981.[11] The Bangladeshi proposal was promptly endorsed by Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives, however India and Pakistan were sceptical initially.[11] 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.[11]

However, after a series of diplomatic consultations headed by Bangladesh between South Asian UN 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.[11] 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.[12]

In 1983, at 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.[13][14]

Officially, the union was established in Dhaka with Kathmandu being the union's secretariat-general.[15] The first SAARC summit was held in Dhaka on 7–8 December 1985 and hosted by the President of Bangladesh Hussain Ershad.[16] The declaration was signed by, namely, 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.[16]

Economic data is sourced from the International Monetary Fund, current as of December 2019, and is given in US dollars.[17]

Members

Country	Population[18][19] (2021)	GDP (nominal) [US$ million, 2023][20]	GDP (PPP) [US$ million, 2022]	GDP per capita (Nominal)	GDP per capita (PPP)	GDP growth rate (2022)	Exports (US$ million, 2022)	Foreign direct investment (US$ million, 2022 or earlier)	Foreign exchange reserves (US$ million, 2022 or earlier)	Defence budget (US$ million, 2022)[21]	Literacy rate (above age 15)	Life expectancy	Population below poverty line	Primary school enrolment [22]	Secondary school enrollment [23]	Population undernourished (%, 2022)[24]	Human Development Index	Democracy Index	Global Terrorism Index	G20	BRICS	BIMSTEC	IORA	APTA	BBIN	SASEC	AIIB	ACU	ACD	ADB	World Bank	Nuclear weapons
Afghanistan	40,099,462	$18,734	$76,486	$499	$2,070	2.3%	$784	N/A	$7,800	$12,000	38.2%	63.67	42%	N/A	54%	26.8%	0.498 (168)	2.97 (143)	9.233 (1)	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖
Bangladesh	169,356,251	$420,516	$1,360,000	$2,846	$8,679	8.2%	$52,000	$54,620	$45,054	$4,530	80.2%	73.10	24.3%	98%	79%	11.4%	0.703 (111)	5.57 (88)	0 (124)	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖
Bhutan	777,486	$2,683	$8,195	$3,423	$9,876	6.4%	$580	$186	$987	$25.1	59.5%	70.20	12%	91%	78%	N/A	0.612 (134)	5.30 (94)	0.305 (107)	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖
India	1,407,563,842	$3,736,882	$10,510,290	$2,601	$9,048	6.4%	$303,400	$367,500	$487,237	$60,580	77.7%	70.1	21.9%	92%	75%	15.2%	0.645 (130)	7.23 (41)	4.222 (11)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Maldives	521,457	$7,004	$8,667	$15,563	$23,312	6.9%	$256	$324	$722	$86.4	98.6%	77.34	16%	N/A	N/A	5.2%	0.717 (101)	N/A	N/A	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✖
Nepal	30,034,989	$42,097	$94,414	$1,115	$3,585	6.2%	$819	$103	$9,440	$213	64.7%	70.25	13.4%	98%	67%	7.8%	0.574 (149)	5.18 (97)	4.791 (32)	✖	✖	✔	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖
Pakistan	231,402,117	$376,493	$1,076,258	$1,357	$5,230	3.3%	$21,940	$41,560	$12,784	$11,400	58%	66.48	24.3%	72%	34%	22%	0.562 (150)	4.17 (112)	10 (10)	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Sri Lanka	21,773,441	$75,296	$304,826	$3,698	$13,114	3.0%	$10,930	N/A	$7,635	$2,500	93.2%	75.28	6.7%	94%	77%	22%	0.770 (76)	6.19 (71)	4.077 (42)	✖	✖	✔	✔	✔	✖	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✖

The member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.[25]

SAARC was founded by seven states in 1985. In 2005, Afghanistan began negotiating their accession to SAARC and formally applied for membership in the same year.[26][27] The issue of Afghanistan joining SAARC generated a great deal of debate in each member state, including concerns about the definition of South Asian identity[28] because Afghanistan is considered a Central Asian country, while it is neither accepted as a Middle Eastern country, nor as a Central Asian country, or as part of the Indian subcontinent, other than being only in part of South Asia.[29]

SAARC member states imposed a stipulation for Afghanistan to hold a general election; the non-partisan elections were held in late 2005.[28] Despite initial reluctance and internal debates, Afghanistan joined SAARC as its eighth member state in April 2007.[28][30]

Despite the Takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2021, Afghanistan is still a member of SAARC, despite calls for their suspension and none of the other SAARC members recognizing the Taliban government.[31] The issue was further exasperated as it was Afghanistan's turn to select a Secretary General for SAARC in 2023. All other members decided to skip Afghanistan and award the selection to Bangladesh, with Nepali foreign secretary, Bharat Raj Paudyal, stating that "When the term of the Bangladeshi secretary general ends, if the problems in Afghanistan are resolved, the new secretary general will be from Afghanistan, not from Bhutan."[32][33]

Secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Kathmandu, Nepal

The SAARC Secretariat was established in Kathmandu on 16 January 1987 and was inaugurated by the late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal.[50]

SAARC has six Apex Bodies,[53] they are:

• SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI),
• South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Law (SAARCLAW),[54]
• South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA),
• South Asia Foundation (SAF),
• South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC),
• Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL)

SAARC also has about 18 recognized bodies.[55]

The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Disaster Management Centre (SDMC-IU) has been set up at Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM) Campus, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Eight Member States, i.e., Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected to be served by the SDMC (IU). It is entrusted with the responsibility of serving Member States by providing policy advice, technical support on system development, capacity building services and training for holistic management of disaster risk in the SAARC region. The centre also facilitates exchange of information and expertise for effective and efficient management of disaster risk.

Lasting peace and prosperity in South Asia has been elusive because of the various ongoing conflicts in the region. Political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings which have refrained from interfering in the internal matters of its member states.[56] During the 12th and 13th SAARC summits, extreme emphasis was laid upon greater cooperation between SAARC members to fight terrorism.[57][58]

The 19th SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan was called off as India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan decided to boycott it due to a terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri.[59][60] It was the first time that four countries boycotted a SAARC summit, leading to its cancellation.[61][62]

SAARC has generally been ineffective at achieving enhanced regionalism.[63]

Countries under the South Asian Free Trade Area

The SAFTA was envisaged primarily as the first step towards the transition to a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) leading subsequently towards a Customs Union, Common Market and the Economic Union. In 1995, Sixteenth session of the Council of Ministers (New Delhi, 18–19 December 1995) agreed on the need to strive for the realization of SAFTA and to this end, an Inter-Governmental Expert Group (IGEG) was set up in 1996 to identify the necessary steps for progressing to a free trade area. The Tenth SAARC Summit (Colombo, 29–31 July 1998) decided to set up a Committee of Experts (COE) to draft a comprehensive treaty framework for creating a free trade area within the region, taking into consideration the asymmetries in development within the region and bearing in mind the need to fix realistic and achievable targets.

The SAFTA Agreement was signed on 6 January 2004 during Twelfth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad, Pakistan.[64] The Agreement entered into force on 1 January 2006, and the Trade Liberalization Programme commenced from 1 July 2006.[65] Under this agreement, SAARC members will bring their duties down to 20 percent by 2009. Following the Agreement coming into force the SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC) has been established comprising the Commerce Ministers of the Member States.[66] In 2012 SAARC exports increased substantially to $354.6 billion from $206.7 billion in 2009.[67] Imports too increased from $330 billion to $602 billion over the same period. But the intra-SAARC trade amounts to just a little over 1% of SAARC's GDP. In contrast to SAARC, in ASEAN (which is actually smaller than SAARC in terms of the size of the economy) the intra-bloc trade stands at 10% of its GDP.

The SAFTA was envisaged to gradually move towards the South Asian Economic Union, but the current intra-regional trade and investment relation are not encouraging and it may be difficult to achieve this target. SAARC intra-regional trade stands at just five percent on the share of intra-regional trade in overall trade in South Asia. Similarly, foreign direct investment is also dismal. The intra-regional FDI flow stands at around four percent of the total foreign investment.[68]

The Asian Development Bank has estimated that inter-regional trade in SAARC region possessed the potential of shooting up agricultural exports by $14 billion per year from existing level of $8 billion to $22 billion. The study by Asian Development Bank states that against the potential average SAARC intra-regional trade of $22 billion per year, the actual trade in South Asia has been only around $8 billion. The uncaptured potential for intra-regional trade is therefore $14 billion per year, i.e., 68%.[69][70]

The SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme was launched in 1992. The leaders at the Fourth Summit (Islamabad, 29–31 December 1988), realizing the importance of people-to-people contact among SAARC countries, decided that certain categories of dignitaries should be entitled to a Special Travel document. The document would exempt them from visas within the region. As directed by the Summit, the Council of Ministers regularly kept under review the list of entitled categories.

Currently, the list included 24 categories of entitled persons, which include dignitaries, judges of higher courts, parliamentarians, senior officials, entrepreneurs, journalists, and athletes.

The Visa Stickers are issued by the respective Member States to the entitled categories of that particular country. The validity of the Visa Sticker is generally for one year. The implementation is reviewed regularly by the Immigration Authorities of SAARC Member States.[71]

Leaders are either heads of state or heads of government, depending on which is constitutionally the chief executive of the nation's government.

• ASEAN and India's Look-East connectivity projects
• Asia Cooperation Dialogue
• SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Initiative
• BIMSTEC
• Indian-Ocean Rim Association
• ICAN
• List of SAARC summits
• Mekong–Ganga Cooperation
• SAARC satellite
• South Asian University
• South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation
• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
• Economic Cooperation Organization

Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

• Official website