The 18th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was held in Kathmandu, Nepal last month on November 26 and 27.
SAARC was created in 1985 to promote economic development and social progress in South Asia through regional cooperation. Presently, it has eight members, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. China, United States, European Union, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Mauritius, Myanmar and Iran are observers which means they can attend the opening and closing session but have no voting rights. At the Kathmandu Summit, Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister promised a Chinese investment of $ 30 billion for infrastructure development in South Asia and 10,000 scholarships for young South Asians as a mark of China’s commitment to the region. Some of the SAARC members have shown interest in elevating China’s status to a full member. India is resisting this suggestion on the ground that SAARC has still to achieve internal cohesion and consolidation.
The Kathmandu Declaration issued at the conclusion of the Summit expressed “the strong determination of the Heads of State and Government to deepen regional inter-dependence for peace, stability, prosperity and cooperation in South Asia inter alia in trade, investment, finance, energy and security”. However, the outcome of the Summit was much below expectations. Government of India hoped to finalize three agreements at the Summit, SAARC Motor Vehicles Agreement, SAARC Regional Railway Agreement and the SAARC Framework Agreement on Energy Cooperation. Only the agreement on energy was signed. The other two were not endorsed by Pakistan on the ground that it had not completed its internal procedure. Pakistan’s reluctance was caused apparently by India’s cancellation earlier of scheduled bilateral talks.
The economic and social welfare of a country is greatly advanced if it interacts as part of a regional block rather than individually. The emergence of a number of regional blocks in Asia, Africa and America are evidence of this reality. An integrated regional economy accelerates the economic growth of member countries through the advantage of geographical proximity and economies of scale. Furthermore, member countries enjoy better leverage in dealing with the global systems of finance, investment, and trade. A regional block also provides a stabilizing cushion for the destabilizing fluctuations in the global economy. Regional cooperation is pivotal to prosperity in South Asia. Economic synergy often leads to solution of disputes including political differences. South Asia is one of the least integrated regions in the world. Intra-regional trade is at present less than 5 percent, whilst it is 62 percent in the European Union, 55 percent in the North American Free Trade Area and 35 percent in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The objective of the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement is to increase the level of trade and economic cooperation among the SAARC countries by reducing tariffs and also to provide special preference to the less developed countries among the SAARC nations. SAFTA is the first step towards a more intense synergy which should ultimately lead to a South Asian Union and a single currency.
Though the Governments of the SAARC nations have made efforts since independence to improve the condition of their people, these attempts are often thwarted by multifarious religious, ethnic and linguistic problems. Discontentment and frustration among the masses, faced with such tribulations, emboldens subversive forces both within and outside to exploit national inadequacies.
The solution to our common predicament requires peace and an atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation rather than of conflict and confrontation. Peace is essential for national as well as regional prosperity. For centuries the European continent was the stage of power rivalries and war. Now Europe appears to be a rather peaceful continent. The very first step towards peace was found in the doctrine of “defense and detente”. While defense is an element indispensable in uncertain circumstances, detente stands for dialogue, arms control, the exchange of views at all levels and alternative thinking. Detente influences the understanding of a situation and broadens the scope of ideas on how to deal with a tense situation that causes war and affects the image of a country abroad. Europe has now progressed beyond “defense and detente” and has entered the path of effective regional integration.
Experience has shown that bilateral agreements between countries of South Asia are mutually beneficial. The Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement became operational in 2000 and produced good results within a short period of time. The Indo-Nepal Trade Treaty is also a good example of bilateral cooperation between two countries. India has now bilateral agreements with Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India and Pakistan have no formal bilateral trade agreement. “India granted Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan in 1996. Pakistan is yet to reciprocate”, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Rajya Sabha last August.
It is often claimed that unless economic cooperation between India and Pakistan is normalized, South Asian economic cooperation will not succeed. The normalization of trade relations between the two countries is indeed crucial for the success of SAARC.
Governments of India, Pakistan and other countries of SAARC ought to join hands across national borders and religious differences and redress the grievances of the disaffected and marginalized. They must beware the machinations of neo-imperialism and its strategy to divide and rule.
Regrettably, the sub-continent invests more in armaments than in social infrastructure. India and Pakistan spend more than three times as much on weaponry as they do on education or health. There ought to be a drastic reduction in the defense expenditure of both countries so that our scarce resources are utilized towards the welfare of our people rather than on purchase of military hardware from abroad. The SAARC Summits are an appropriate occasion for the leaders of both India and Pakistan to initiate a serious and responsible dialogue which should include all issues of concern between the two countries.
(The writer is a former Union Minister)
