None of the nation has sufficient power to choose its
geographical neighbors. Its boundaries, priorities, ideologies, governments
etc. may change over the time but it cannot simply ignore its neighbors. In
this modern world, the phenomena of regional cooperation have grappled the
whole world. In the era of globalization, the formation of regional groupings
is being recognised as a step towards global integration. Regional groupings
are, most commonly, based upon the principles of shared histories, geographical
contiguity, core competencies, advantages associated with economy of scale etc.
We can see few non-overlapping regional groupings.
Now the trend of many overlapping cooperation are opening
up space for cooperation on multiple fora. Thus the nations are trying to
utilise even the slightest of opening opportunities. South Asia could not
remain isolated with this phenomenon.
The concept of political and economical cooperation in
South Asia was first envisaged by Bangladeshi President Late Zia-Ur-Rahman in
1980. SAARC (South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation) came into being in 1985 with Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as
founding members. Afghanistan joined SAARC in 2007.
Presence of observer
members has increased group's legitimacy. They are Australia, China, European Union (EU), Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South
Korea, and United States (USA).
South Asia constitutes the world’s second least developed
region after Sub-Saharan Africa. It has more poor people than the rest of the
world. It is generally said that even after 30 years of its establishment,
SAARC has remained merely a talk shop. We will discuss this issue in detail but
let us first understand Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
associated with this grouping.
Strength
|
Weakness
|
Economic:
- Rising economies (So provides large consumption
market too.)
- Huge natural resources: Common rivers, a
mountain system, an ocean (these open opportunities for regional trade,
hydro-power generations etc.)
|
Economic:
- Very less regional connectivity(Among member countries)
- Huge deficit of
skilled manpower
- Lacking in
infrastructure development(Within national boundaries)
- Trade barriers and less integration
have made trade costly.
- Scarcity of capital to invest in
productive infrastructure
|
Overall:
- Demographic Dividend(Youthful population)
- So many agreed areas of cooperation, institutional
mechanism and a Permanent Secretariat for SAARC
- Challenges faced by member countries are of very
similar nature. (Solutions lie in convergence of efforts to contain
them.)
|
Overall :
- Political history still dominates the national
consciousness. It has become one of the biggest hurdles in regional
integration.
- Low level of HDI(Human Development Index) ranking
- Very low status of women
|
Opportunity
|
Threat
|
Economic:
- Possibility of benefits accruing to nations
through economy of scale because of rising consumption
- Economic cooperation will raise the
threshold below which bilateral relations will not fall
|
Economic:
- Countries will either miss the opportunity or will
be late in improving quality of lives of people due to
non-cooperation
|
Overall:
- Social benefits by
promoting growth (improving public health, education etc.)
- Regional cooperation can also attenuate
inter-state and intra-state conflicts and helps to stabilize the region.
|
Overall:
- Due to changing climate, the vulnerability to
disasters has increased. Not having cooperation among regional neighbors
will make its management difficult.
|
Thus we can see that the opportunity cost
of not having good relation is huge. Over the years, areas of cooperation have diversified to engage political, economic, social,
cultural and other aspects. The SAARC Summits have created a platform for
closed-door bilateral talks among members. These meetings have pushed for
progress in regional cooperation. SAARC has moved
ahead but the level of cooperation is much below its potential. We will
first look into the steps taken by SAARC then question of its relevance and
then the way forward.
Steps taken
- South Asian Free
Trade Area (SAFTA):
It was signed by founding members in 2004 and came into force in
2006. It created a free trade area of member nations. It is
aimed to reduce custom duties of all traded goods to zero by the year 2016. Afghanistan
as the 8th member state of the SAARC ratified the SAFTA protocol
in 2011.As of 20 September 2013, the total
free on board value of exports by Member States under SAFTA has reached about US$
3 billion. This amount is far below the potential.
Most important
hurdles=>
I) Huge size of Sensitive lists (These contain
goods that are exempted from low SAFTA tariffs. The use of sensitive lists
allows countries to protect growing domestic industries or important sources of
custom revenue. However, its overuse can make goods more expensive for
consumers and reduce trade.) Realising its negative consequence, members are
now making effort to reduce this.
II) Reasons mentioned in
Weakness section in the table above.
III) Liberalization
in service and investment is due, only goods portion have been taken care yet.
Sooner it is done, quicker and bigger will be its impact in economic
cooperation.
- Expansion of grouping: It is hoped that Afghanistan will become a
land bridge between Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East. It will
also become a trade, transportation, energy and minerals hub in the
region. This seems mere aspiration at present but time will test its importance.
- Culture: Bamiyan (Buddhist site in Afghanistan) was declared as the SAARC CULTURAL CAPITAL for 2015.
This is the unique step taken by the SAARC Cultural Centre. A series
of year-long cultural events with a national but with an overall South
Asian dimension will be organized at Bamiyan to celebrate its status as
the First SAARC CULTURAL CAPITAL (DHAKA will be the second.) for the whole
of South Asian region. It is an important step in the direction of
cherishing shared culture which has got mired in the narrow
identities and national boundaries.
- Education: Establishment of South Asian University in New Delhi and "Delhi
Declaration" on education has charted out new course of cooperation.
- Recent summit (18th Summit in NOV, 2014)-There
were three proposed regional
agreements for connectivity and integration: motor vehicles, rail and
energy cooperation. Tensions between India and Pakistan, once again, grappled the SAARC
summit. Islamabad expressed concerns over all three but later agreed to SAARC Market of Electricity (SAME)
Agreement. Finally
all agreed to SAARC transport Ministers hammering out an agreement on
motor vehicles and railway services within three months. SAME aims to setup a “SAARC energy grid”
which will open up new era of cooperation.
 |
| Pic courtesy : saarc-sdmc.nic.in |
Question of SAARC's relevance
It is seen that SAARC
countries are connected more to the outside world than to each other. They are
also giving more importance to other cooperation fora like ASEAN, BIMSTEC etc. But beyond shared history the challenges faced
by SAARC nation are of almost similar nature. These challenges include poverty, unemployment, environment, globalization and
issues related to national securities like terrorism, drug trafficking etc.
Challenges should bring members closer to cooperate not far apart.
It is generally said that SAARC has
merely remained a talk shop. But looking at
the steps taken we can understand that this view is not entirely true. We
should see the process and stages of development of European Union.
India's role
Initially India was
against forming of such grouping. But after liberalization of economy and
successes of NAFTA, ASEAN etc opened
its eyes. In this association, India is perceived to behave like a hegemon and
Pakistan as obstructionist in India’s ambitions to play a legitimate role
commensurate with its achievements and capabilities. India's neighbors have
tried to play China card against
India either to get more concessions or pressurize it. In the recent
summit (Nov 2014), Pakistan pushed for enhanced role of China in SAARC.
 |
| Pic courtesy : thehindu.com |
India being heavy weight
can't dream of becoming regional power or global power without having made
SAARC functional in its objective. But India will have to leave big brother attitude and try to get neighbors
on board. At the same time neighbors too will have to look into the long term
prospects and benefits accruing out of the successes of SAARC. China's economic
power should be utilized in constructive way rather than holding India's
effort.
Following will be the key in SAARC's success:
(a) Building Trust (b) Putting economics before
politics (c) Boosting up
cultural cooperation and regional tourism (d) Joint effort to deter
cross-border illegal migration, terrorism, narcotics and drug trafficking.
 |
| Pic courtesy : nepal24hours.com |
Besides these bilateral and sub-regional initiatives (Nepal-India-Bangladesh
etc.) could significantly spur regional cooperation. After the experience of two terrible world wars, European
nations sank their differences and came together. They are now enjoying the
fruits of shared prosperity. 2010-20 is the SAARC Decade of Intra-regional
Connectivity. With the great focus of Prime Minister Modi's govt. in the neighborhood,
let us hope this becomes a ground reality.
What is your opinion about
relevance of SAARC? How it can be utilized as a useful forum for the Indian subcontinent
growth and prosperity?
How is SAARC’s performance
with its counterpart groupings around the world? How it can become stronger and
relevant in world scenario?
(Written by Sujit Bharti, an alumnus of IIT Bhubaneshwar)
