International Organisation -----> SAARC

SAARC Summit 2007(CSE 2007)

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s (SAARC’s) annual summit was held in the capital of India, New Delhi in April 2007. For the first time delegates from Japan, China and South Korea took part in SAARC summit.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organization of South Asian nations, founded in 1985 and dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural development emphasizing collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2007. Meetings of heads of state are usually scheduled annually; meetings of foreign secretaries, twice annually. Headquarters are in Kathmandu, Nepal. Afghanistan was added to the regional grouping at the behest of India on 13 November 2005, and became a member on 3 April 2007.With the addition of Afghanistan, the total number of member states were raised to eight (8). In April 2006, the United States of America and South Korea made formal requests to be granted observer status. The European Union has also indicated interest in being given observer status, and made a formal request for the same to the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in July 2006. On 2 August 2006 the foreign ministers of the SAARC countries agreed in principle to grant observer status to the US, South Korea and the European Union. On 4 March 2008, Iran requested observer status. Followed shortly by the entrance of Mauritius. Secretariat The SAARC Secretariat was established in Kathmandu on 16 January 1987 and was inaugurated by Late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal. Political issues SAARC has intentionally laid more stress on "core issues" mentioned above rather than more decisive political issues like the Kashmir dispute and the Sri Lankan civil war. However, political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings. SAARC has also refrained itself from interfering in the internal matters of its member states. During the 12th and 13th SAARC summits, extreme emphasis was laid upon greater cooperation between the SAARC members to fight terrorism. Free trade agreement Over the years, the SAARC members have expressed their unwillingness on signing a free trade agreement. Though India has several trade pacts with Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, similar trade agreements with Pakistan and Bangladesh have been stalled due to political and economic concerns on both sides. India has been constructing a barrier across its borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan. In 1993, SAARC countries signed an agreement to gradually lower tariffs within the region, in Dhaka. Eleven years later, at the 12th SAARC Summit at Islamabad, SAARC countries devised the South Asia Free Trade Agreement which created a framework for the establishment of a free trade area covering 1.4 billion people. This agreement went into force on January 1, 2008. Under this agreement, SAARC members will bring their duties down to 20 per cent by 2009. MEMBERSHIP SECRETARIES GENERAL LIST OF SAARC SUMMITS Current members (alphabetically) Abul Ahsan January 16, 1987 to 15 October 1989 1st Dhaka December 7–8, 1985 AFGANISTAN Kant Kishore Bhargava October 17, 1989 to December 31, 1991 2nd Bangalore November 16–17, 1986 Bangladesh Ibrahim Hussain Zaki January 1, 1992 to December 31, 1993 3rd Kathmandu November 2–4, 1987 Bhutan Yadav Kant Silwal January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1995 4th Islamabad December 29–31, 1988 India Naeem U. Hasan January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1998 5th Malé November 21–23, 1990 Maldives Nihal Rodrigo January 1, 1999 to January 10, 2002 6th Colombo December 21, 1991 Pakistan Q.A.M.A. Rahim January 11, 2002 to February 28, 2005 7th Dhaka April 10–11, 1993 Sri Lanka Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji March 1, 2005 to February 29, 2008 8th New Delhi May 2–4, 1995 Observers Sheel Kant Sharma March 1, 2008 to present 9th Malé May 12–14, 1997 Australia 10th Colombo July 29–31, 1998 China 11th Kathmandu January 4–6, 2002 European Union 12th Islamabad January 2–6, 2004 Iran 13th Dhaka November 12–13, 2005 Japan 14th New Delhi April 3–4, 2007 Mauritius 15th Colombo August 1–3, 2008 Myanmar 16th Thimphu April 28–29, 2010 South Korea USA Future Membership The People's Republic of China has shown its interest in joining SAARC. While Pakistan and Bangladesh support China's candidature, India is against the prospect of Chinese membership. China's entry in to SAARC wills likely balance India's overbearing presence there. However, during the 2005 Dhaka summit, India agreed on granting observer status to the PRC along with Japan. During the 14th summit, Nepal along with Pakistan and Bangladesh, announced their support for the membership of China. China seeks greater involvement in SAARC, however, finds it too early to apply for full membership. Indonesia intends to become an observer as well, and is supported by Sri Lanka. Iran, a state with borders to two SAARC members, has traditionally enjoyed strong cultural, economic and political relationships with Afghanistan and Pakistan and has expressed its desire to become a member of the South Asian organization. On 22 February 2005, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Kamal Kharrazi, indicated Iran's interest in joining SAARC by saying that his country could provide the region with "East-West connectivity”. On 3 March 2007, Iran asked to join the SAARC as an observer. SAARC Secretary-General Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji responded by saying that Iran's request for observer status would be taken up during a meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of SAARC member countries in the 3 April summit in New Delhi. Russia intends to become an observer as well, and is supported by India. Myanmar has expressed an interest in joining as a full member, even though it is already a member of the ASEAN. If done so, Myanmar will become the ninth member in the group. India is currently backing Myanmar. Myanmar’s military regime officially applied for full SAARC membership in May 2008. However, the application is still being considered and the government is currently restricted to observer status. South Africa has participated in meetings.

In this summit, harsh words were used by the member countries to condemn terrorism; however, much was not achieved regarding India’s interest for the treaty regarding international terrorism. In this summit, the main achievement was that adding new members to SAFTA. For the first time it was declared that they would introduce a proper scheme within six months regarding the problems related to common peoples’ life like water problem, cooperation in food and environment and the things which are the basics in everyday life. In SAARC Summit 2007, removal of poverty was discussed in usual way, but for the first time an important step was taken, and “Southern Food Bank” was established by all its member countries. The declaration included the establishment of Southern University, South Development Fund, etc. Indian Prime Minister declared to introduce an easier way for rise for the countries’ students, teachers and journalists etc. Along with this he put importance on economic cooperation. As a whole, SAARC summit 2007 was satisfactory and decision was taken regarding certain new fields in the summit.