South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

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South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

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(In Detail)

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Membership

7 member states
4 observers

Secretariat Headquarters

Kathmandu

Established

December 8, 1985

Secretary General

Chenkyab Dorji

Official website

http://www.saarc-sec.org/

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, proposed by Ziaur Rahman, the then-president of Bangladesh, was established on December 8, 1985. SAARC is an association of eight countries of South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and most recently admitted, Afghanistan. These countries comprise an area of 5,127,500 km² and a fifth of the world's population.

SAARC encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics control and anti-terrorism. SAARC has intentionally stressed these "core issues" and avoided more divisive political issues, above all the Kashmir dispute which bitterly divides the two largest member states, India and Pakistan. However, political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings.

In 1993, SAARC countries signed an agreement to gradually lower tariffs within the region. Nine 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 zone covering 1.4 billion people. This agreement went into force on January 1, 2006.

1 Membership
2 List of SAARC Summits
3 Areas of Cooperation
4 Future Membership
5 Results of Dhaka 2005 Summit
6 Comparision with other Regional blocs
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

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Membership

Current members:

Observer nations:

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List of SAARC Summits

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Areas of Cooperation

Agriculture and Rural Development
Health, Population Activities & proverty
Women, Youth and Children
Environment and Forestry
Science and Technology and Meteorology
Human Resources Development
Transport
Disaster management
Removal of terrorism

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Future Membership

On 22 February 2005, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Kamal Kharrazi, indicated Iran's interest in joining SAARC, saying that his country could provide the region with "East-West connectivity".Template:Ref

The People's Republic of China has also been suggested as a possible SAARC member, such membership being encouraged by Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, India is more reluctant about the prospect of Chinese membership, while Bhutan does not even have diplomatic relations with China.Template:Ref At the 2005 summit in Dhaka, member states decided to give China and Japan observer status.

In April 2006, the United States of America and South Korea were also given observers status. [1]

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Results of Dhaka 2005 Summit

On November 13, 2005, the Dhaka Summit issued a declaration to admit the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as a member, and to accord observer status to China and Japan. Template:Ref The nations also agreed to organize development funds under a single financial institution with a permanent secretariat, that would cover all SAARC programs ranging from social, to infrastructure, to economic ones.

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