SAARC

South Asian Association for Regional Corporation is an organization of eight South Asian countries founded in 1985 and is a regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of South Asian countries. The members of the SAARC organization include India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The organization was created to promote development in regional integration as well as in economical conditions of the members of SAARC organization and also to promote social, technological and cultural developments in the region. The Secretariat of the organization is located in Kathmandu, Nepal and SAARC represents 3% of world area and 21% of the world population with 1.7 billion people. The meetings of the head of states usually are scheduled to meet on an annual basis and the foreign secretaries meetings is scheduled twice annually. There are 11 areas where SAARC countries co-operate with each other and the area includes agriculture, education, culture and sports, population and child welfare, health, environment and meteorology, rural development, tourism, science and technology, transport and prevention of drug trafficking and drug abuse. SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations with the European Union and United Nations being the observer. The idea for formation of an organization for co-operation in South Asia was discussed at least in three conferences; the Asian Relations Conference; Baguio Conference and Colombo Powers Conference. Later, in the 1970s the seven inner South Asian nations that included India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives agreed to create a platform for trade, bloc and for the people of South Asia to work together in a environment of friendship, trust and understanding. On 2nd May 1980, Late President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman raised the necessity of regional, political as well as economical co-operation in South Asia and then the first SAARC summit was held on 8th December 1985 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Afghanistan wasnt a part of the SAARC during its formation and it was awarded a full membership later in 2005. The main objective of SAARC is to promote the welfare of the people of South Asia and to improve the quality of their life, to increase the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to promote and strengthen the cooperation with other developing nation and to maintain the peace and prosperity of its member nations. In the 13th SAARC meeting there was emphasis made in cooperation among the members of the SAARC countries to fight collectively against terrorism. There are also political situations of the SAARC countries discussed in the meeting and the member countries are desist from interfering in domestic issues of the member countries. Few of the achievements of the SAARC association include South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme. SAFTA agreement was signed on 6th January 2004 during the twelfth SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan and the agreement came into force from 1st January 2016. Under the agreement, SAARC members were asked to bring down their duties to 20 percent by 2009. This has led to an increase of exports from US$206.7 billion in 2009 to US$354.6 billion in 2012. The imports too increased from US$330 billion to US$602 billion in 2012. However, the intra trade among the SAARC members amounted only 1% of SAARCs GDP. SAARC Visa exception Scheme was launched in 1992 after the fourth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad. During the summit it was decided to provide special travel document to certain categories of dignitaries which would exempt them from visas within the region. This list currently consists of 24 categories of entitled persons and it includes Dignitaries, judges, parliamentarians, businessmen and senior officials etc. SAARC has six Apex Bodies that includes SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), SAARCLAW, South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), South Asian Foundation (SAF), South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) AND Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL). SAARC has been able to conduct 18 SAARC Summit so far. The 19th SAARC Summit is scheduled on for 9th and 10th November 2016 and it will be hosted in Pakistan. The activities and the initiatives of SAARC are monitored by the SAARC Secretariat and it acts as the communication channel between SAARC and its member states. The Secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal and the secretariat is presently headed by Arjun Thapa, Nepals ex-foreign secretary. SAARC has received both positive as well as negative reviews for its functioning. SAARC is appraised for the increase in the scope in the regional cooperation of SAARC and the rise in the interactions of commerce of the SAARC countries. However, SAARC is criticized as it has not been able to achieve anything big in the past three decades and there has also been a rise of terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are also disputes between the two major members of the organization India and Pakistan and it has also lead to a dismal growth in the social and economic sectors of the organization.