The 11th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) concluded in Kathmandu Sunday. Of all the achievements, the summit has helped revitalize the regional body's process which has already been bogged into a stillness for more than three years.
This time, though it seemed overshadowed again by new tensions between India and Pakistan, all the leaders, with overall regionalinterests in mind, came together and worked hard to reach consensus in accelerating the SAARC's activities in order to strengthen socio-economic cooperation and address the most urgent,difficult problems in the region -- poverty eradication, trafficking of women and children, trade barriers and terrorism.
In the Kathmandu Declaration adopted at the conclusion of the summit, the leaders "solemnly renewed their pledge to strengthen the Association and make it more cohesive, result oriented and forward looking."
In particular, they decided to speed up the free trade process by finalizing a draft treaty by the end of 2002, so as to move more quickly towards a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), which would remove non-tariff barriers and structural impediments and lower tariffs to greatly enhance trade and investment among SAARC countries.
Back in 1995, with the aim to realize SAFTA, the seven SAARC nations -- Nepal, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lankaand Bangladesh -- reached an agreement on South Asian PreferentialTrading Arrangement (SAPTA), under which more than 2,000 items of products are being traded for preferential treatment among them.
The benefit of this move is more than evident, just as Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee summed up at the summit, "In an intensely competitive world, regional economic groups create obvious economies of scale. At times of wider recession, regional trade can cushion their adverse impact."
In fact, the SAARC decided on its ninth summit in the Maldives in 1998 to establish SAFTA by 2001. However, the process was unfortunately delayed as almost all the SAARC activities came to astop due to escalating nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the two biggest economies in the group.
Now with the SAARC becoming more business-oriented, the member countries would quicken their steps in the direction. "Although there is no time frame yet for SAFTA, it is encouraging that the process is restarted," said Ram Mahat, Nepali finance minister.
South Asia remains one of the poorest regions in the world, with 40 percent of its 1.3 billion people (accounting for one fifth of the world population) living below the poverty line, and its share of global gross products less than two percent.
On the alleviation of poverty -- the most formidable developmental challenge for the region, the leaders this time tried to stop high talking and pledged to come down to practical measures. They directed both the SAARC Secretariat and the SAARC Council of Ministers to work out effective, sustained and attainable anti-poverty programs. It seems the programs would be practical and could be implemented in a fixed time frame.
Another important achievement of this summit is the signing of two conventions, one on combating the crime of trafficking of women and children for prostitution and the other on regional arrangements for the promotion of child's welfare. Under these documents, concrete steps would be taken to empower and protect women and children in the region, where trafficking of them has long been a lingering social evil.
Meanwhile, all the leaders committed themselves to fighting terrorism in a comprehensive and collective manner at the present time when terrorism is ever threatening. The SAARC nations have accepted U.N. Resolution 1373 as the basis for future actions against terrorism, and are determined to "redouble efforts, collectively as well as individually, to prevent and suppress terrorism," the declaration said.
All in all, the most important success of the summit, as political analysts have noticed, is that the leaders bypassed their disputes and came together to revitalize the region's development and cooperation. Their efforts are essential to the social advancement, economic prosperity, peace and stability, not only of the South Asian region, but even of the world at large.
SAARC Leaders Vow to Wage Sustained Fight Against Terrorism
The fight against terrorism inall its forms and manifestations has to be comprehensive and sustained, declared leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) members.
In the Kathmandu Declaration issued at the end of the two-day 11th SAARC summit, the leaders reiterated their support to U.N. Resolution 1373 of September 28, 2001.
They said they are determined to "redouble efforts, collectively as well as individually, to prevent and suppress terrorism."
In the document, they also reaffirmed their commitment to the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism which was passed in 1987 in Kathmandu and expressed their aspiration to "accelerate the enactment of enabling legislation within a definitetime-frame" for its full, early and effective implementation.
Meanwhile, they called upon the international community to assist SAARC members to deal effectively with the adverse economiceffects of terrorism and to help meet the rising insurance and security related costs.
They stressed that terrorism violates the fundamental values ofthe United Nations and the SAARC Charter and constitutes one of the most serious threats to mankind.
Terrorism, they declared, "cannot be justified on ideological, political, religious or on any other ground," and must be suppressed for the sake of safeguarding "international peace and security in the twenty-first century."
The SAARC, established in 1985 for regional cooperation and integration, groups seven South Asian countries -- Nepal, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
( January 7, 2002)
