South Asian Association for

Regional Cooperation

Prepared By:
Umar Azam
Mubeen Mughal
M. Hammad Shakil
Mohsin Sajjad
Muhammad Awais
Muhammad Hanif

INTRODUCTION
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.

Origin of SAARC
Idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was discussed in at least
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.

Sri Lanka, Bhutan , Maldives,

Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India

Its 7 founding members are :

PRINCIPLES
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.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

To promote welfare and quality of life of peoples of south Asia.
To accelerate 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.

MEMBERS
&
OBSERVERS
OF

CURRENT MEMBERS
1.

Afghanistan

2.

Bangladesh

3.

Bhutan

4.

India

5.

Maldives

6.

Nepal

7.

Pakistan

8.

Sri Lanka

( joined in 2007 )

OBSERVERS
1.

Australia

2.

China

3.

European Union

4.

Japan

5.

Iran

6.

Mauritius

7.

Myanmar

8. S. Korea

9.

USA

SAARC:
Areas of
Cooperation

Areas of Co-Operation
Agriculture & Biotechnology
Energy & Environment
Trade & Finance
Tourism & Social Development
Education

Culture
Information , Communication & Media

People-to-People Contacts
Science & Technology

Trade & Finance

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)

POLITICAL ISSUES
The dispute over Kashmirs accession to
India has been standing in the way of the
lasting peace and prosperity of the Indian
subcontinent as well as SAARC.

Agreements
&
Conventions
of
SAARC

AGGREMENTS
Agreement for establishment of
SAARC Arbitration Council

Agreement on south Asian Free

Trade Area (SAFTA)

Final Agreement on Customs

Matters

Agreement on the Establishment

of South Asian Regional Standards
Organization (SARSO)

CHARTER OF SDF 31 July 2008

Agreement on establishing the

SAARC food bank

Agreement on Avoidance of
Double Taxation

CONVENTIONS
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
Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

provisions of the Regional

SUMMITS
And
MEETINGS

List of SAARC summits

1st Saarc Summit

(Dhaka, December 8, 1985)

2nd Saarc Summit

(Bangalore, November 17, 1986)

3rd Saarc Summit

(Katmandu, November 4, 1987)

4th Saarc Summit

(Islamabad, December 31, 1988)

5th Saarc Summit

(Male', November 23, 1990)

6th Saarc Summit

(Colombo, December 21, 1991)

7th Saarc Summit

(Dhaka, April 11, 1993)

8th Saarc Summit

(New Delhi, May 4, 1995)

 9th Saarc Summit

(Male', May 14, 1997)

10th Saarc Summit

(Colombo, July 31, 1998)

11th Saarc Summit

(Katmandu, January 6, 2002)

12th Saarc Summit

(Islamabad, January 6, 2004)

13th Saarc Summit

(Dhaka, November 13,2005)

14th Saarc Summit

(New Delhi, April 3-4,2007)

15th Saarc Summit

(Colombo, July 27 August 4,2008)

16th Saarc Summit

( Thimpu, 28-29 April 2010)

MINISTERIAL MEETINGS
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 Ministers 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.

Achievements

ECONOMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
1. SAPTA (SAARC preferential
trading arrangement) was signed
4. SAARC constitutes South Asian
on 7 December, 1995
Development Fund (SADF)

2. SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade

Area) was signed in Islamabad in
January 2004

5. Signed an agreement of mutual

assistance.

6. Avoidance of double taxation were

3. SAARC chamber of commerce and
signed.
industry (SCCI)

LITERACY & EDUCATION

Establishment of a Common University for Education in Delhi,
2013

POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Regional food security essence
Promoted global objective of shelter for all.

TERRORISM & DRUG TRAFFICKING

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)

PEOPLE TO PEOPLE CONTACT

The Second SAARC Summit (Bangalore, 1986) laid special emphasis on promoting people-topeople contact in the region and following are some initiatives in this regard:

SAVE (SARRC Audio Visual Exchange) was implemented.

SAARC Chairs, Fellowships and Scholarships Scheme
SAARC Youth Volunteers Programme (SYVOP)
Talks between countries leads to the diffusion of tension

In 2002, when tension between India & Pakistan was at peak,

President Musharraf utilized the forum of SAARC to diffuse it.

Events
organized
by
SAARC
Different Cultural, Sports, Awareness, Training Workshops
related events are organized by SAARC

Different Cultural, Sports, Awareness,

Training Workshops related events are
organized by SAARC

SAARC Tele-medicine Project

The SAARC e-Network TeleMedicine project is the initiative
by the Government of India to
provide specialist healthcare
facilities and treatment to the
people of all member SAARC
countries and share its expertise
in medical knowledge among
doctors of the SAARC countries.

Pakistans role in SAARC

Pakistan suggested that women participation in SAARC related
activities.
Pakistan assembled ministerial level meeting on International economic

issues at Islamabad in May 1986.

Pakistan has organized vast number of activities under the IPA for this
Pakistan doubled its share from 19100 tons in South Asian food security
resources.

Pakistan assigned highest priority to the eradication of

drugs abuse and drugs trafficking through effective

regional co-operation.

Pakistan is second largest contributor towards all SAARC

related activities as well as towards the budget of the

SAARC secretariat.

Failures of SAARC
SAARC is a toothless tiger , more
than anything else.
Dr. Siegfried O.Wolf,
Lecturer Pol. Science
& Director research,
South Asian
Democratic Forum, a
Brussels based think
tank.

Factors responsible for SAARC failure

Political instability, Trust deficit & lack of social cohesion (Dr. Sigfried O. Wolf)
Bilateral relationships within the region & varying visions for the SAARC (Dr.

Sigfried O. Wolf)
Observers often refer unsolvable Indo-Pak relations as main hurdle towards
regional integration in SAARC
India tries to dominate the function and activities of SAARC
Lack financial constraints & of political Co-Operation

Future of SAARC
IT depends upon the ability of member
states to harmonize and accommodate
their differing interests and attitudes an
certain basic political, security and foreign
policy issues, which does not seem to
realizable in near future.