South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

WHY IN NEWS?

Successful regional integration — both economic and security — depends on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) becoming fully functional at the highest levels, Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

ABOUT SAARC

• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
• SAARC comprises of eight Member States: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• SAARC comprises 3% of the world's area, 21% of the world's population and 3.8% (US$2.9 trillion) of the global economy, as of 2015.
• The Secretariat of the Association was set up in Kathmandu on 17 January 1987.
• The objectives of the Association as outlined in the SAARC Charter are:
  • to promote the welfare of the peoples 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.
• Decisions at all levels are to be taken on the basis of unanimity; and bilateral and contentious issues are excluded from the deliberations of the Association.
• SAARC launched the South Asian Free Trade Area in 2006.
• 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.
• The 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.
• SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the United Nations as an observer and has developed links with multilateral entities, including the European Union.

Prelims Question

Q. Which of the following countries are members of both SAARC and BIMSTEC?
1. Maldives
2. Myanmar
3. Bhutan
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
a. 1 and 2 only
b. 2 and 3 only
c. 3 only
d. 1 and 3 only

Answer to the Prelims Question