Critically examine SAARC developments from 1985 to 2009.
The idea of South Asian regional cooperation was the brainchild of Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman, who came up with the concept of the creation of a South Asian trade bloc in the late 1970’s.However, it was only in November 1980 that the idea was reawakened, followed by a meeting of the foreign secretaries of the seven founding nations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in April 1981, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Subsequent to this the Committee of the Whole upon meeting identified five major areas for regional cooperation: agriculture, rural development, telecommunications, meteorology, and health and population activities. This was followed by the first meeting of the states in New Delhi in 1983, where they espoused the ‘Declaration on South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’, and instigated the Integrated Program of Action (IPA) in the agreed areas of cooperation. The formal adoption of the Charter of SAARC in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 8th December 1985, by the seven original member states saw the establishment of the ‘South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’(SAARC), an economic and political organization which had a combined population of 1.5 billion people under its sphere of influence, making it the largest of all regional organizations. The SAARC family of seven states was expanded to eight in the year 2007 when Afghanistan became a member of the organization.
SAARC as an organization holds annual summits, and has thus far held 15 such summits, the last being in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The member states meet to discuss issues common to the region and focus mainly on bettering the lives of its citizenry through regional cooperation. The SAARC Secretariat established in 1987 coordinates and monitors the implementation of SAARC activities, services the meetings of the Association and functions as the means of...