SAARC was established on Dec. 8, 1985 and at present comprises of eight countries in the region namely Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Afghanistan and Bhutan.
SAARC provides a platform for the peoples of South Asia to work together in a spirit of friendship, trust and understanding. Its goal is to accelerate the process of economic and social development in member states. The 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit has been scheduled from April 28-29 in the capital of Bhutan, Thimphu. Bhutan is also referred to as the land of the thunderbolt.
Climate change will be a burning issue in the Summit that has this year’s theme as ‘Towards a green and happy South Asia’. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Tuesday (27th April 2010) left for Bhutan to attend the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held in Thimpu on April 28 and 29th 2010.
The Prime minister of Nepal before departing to the Bhutanat Tribhuvan International Airport said that climate change will be a big topic of discussion.
The Prime Minister, his wife Gayatri Nepal, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala, National Planning Commission member Dinesh Devkota, advisors to the prime minister and foreign minister, the Chief of Protocol, two security personnel of the prime minister, foreign ministry officials and journalists are part of the delegation team. The Cabinet has endorsed three agreements — SAARC Agreement on Disaster Response Mechanism, SAARC Convention on Cooperation on Environment and Climate Change and Agreement on Trade in Services — to be forwarded to all member states and which will be the outcome of the SAARC summit.
Bhutan has completed preparations to host the summit, which will mark the 25th year of establishment of the regional body. The summit as planned will commence on April 28 followed by a meeting of the 38th session of the Programming Committee on April 29. Eight member nations will be joined by observers from China, Japan, the European Union, Republic of Korea, the US, Australia, Mauritius and Iran. The other issues that will be discussed will be energy, food crisis and effective implementation of the SAARC development fund. Regional issues like terrorism, extremism, early implementation of South Asian Free Trade Agreement and expansion of tourism across the region will also figure in the summit.
Another key agenda will be the appointment of a SAARC Development Fund secretary in the secretariat, which will be established in Thimpu.
Every area of cooperation under SAARC has a direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of the people in that region. Our leaders have aptly identified the focus of SAARC as being development oriented, according to foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
She claims that in this 25th year of SAARC, we can take satisfaction from the fact that SAARC has evolved into a service provider for the economic and development needs of the people of the region. She praised Bhutan, which is the chair and host of the 16th SAARC summit, for taking the lead to put climate change at the centre of the SAARC agenda. Bhutan has led the way among all in enshrining respect and sensitivity for environmental concerns and the preservation of our precious environmental space. She stated that at the summit, India will focus on improving regional connectivity through the development of new trade, transport and telecommunication links.
SAARC University in New Delhi
As part of an enterprising move SAARC University is set to start functioning in New Delhi in the next three months. India has asserted that there will be no discrimination of visa issue against any students from any country, including those from Pakistan although police reporting would be deemed mandatory.
Bhutan, in the past had refused thrice to host the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), but now has shown enthusiasm for the 16th summit commencing on April 27, 2010.
There is trepidation, according to news sources, in the air about the imminent meeting between the Indian and Pakistan Prime Ministers. Officials are working out the final document that intends to demonstrate the efficacy of the eight-member grouping after nearly two decades of inaction. A point to note is that only at the 14th summit in Delhi did the SAARC resolved to move beyond the declaratory to implementation.
India: A Driving force
The current summit is expected to reveal two agreements: one on the environmental issues and the other on trade in services. The pact on environment is likely to see announcements on a regional institutional architecture to deal with climate change, and the setting up of 50 weather stations to provide storm warning in member countries, like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The climate change deal is aimed at evolving a fresh SAARC position as per the Bali Action Plan and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The agreement on trade in services is meant to give a boost to regional trade which, as several studies have shown, is the poorest among all regional trading blocs in the world.
India is taking a stand for agreements on motor vehicles and railways and rapid response to natural disasters. Officials report that a few countries, including Pakistan, have inhibitions about the prospects of a “combined rapid response” force and are seeking clarity.
But, with India taking the lead, the vision of a region-wide physical connectivity unveiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is being implemented bilaterally and among three countries, as in the case of Nepal-India-Bangladesh and Bhutan-India-Bangladesh.
This meeting, which was to have been held in Kathmandu earlier this month, was postponed at Pakistan’s request. Similarly the movement on anti-terrorism has stalled, with Nepal having sought postponement of a meeting of the SAARC Home Ministers scheduled in Islamabad for earlier this year to give an impetus to the SAARC Ministerial Declaration on Cooperation in Combating Terrorism. However, a basic structure that shares unclassified information on terrorism and drug-related cases is already functioning.
India is also hoping on some pact that will bring down non-tariff barriers to give a boost to trade. The summit will be a test for India’s move to establish its own Monroe Doctrine, particularly in relation to its biggest neighbor, China, who is an observer nation at the 16th SAARC summit. India which is the largest country in South East Asia uses the 19th Century Monroe Doctrine of then-US president James Monroe to justify intervention in trouble areas around the Indian periphery.
The Indian security establishment believes that the United States’ operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot succeed without India’s active co-operation, at least when it comes to nation-building in Afghanistan. Likewise, India wants actively participle in Washington’s nuclear talks with Iran and any overtures to Myanmar. Iran is an observer nation in SAARC. Afghanistan became a SAARC member in 2007.
Hope of Refugees:
Several thousands of Bhutanese refugees, who were forcefully thrown out of their homes for almost twenty years, are hoping to return to Bhutan at the end of the summit. Nepal is the homeland of the largest number of Bhutanese refugees who amount to nearly a sixth of the Buddhist kingdom’s population.
Evicted from Bhutan due to their ethnic roots and adherence to non-Buddhist religions, the younger refugees began to opt for a new life in western countries after Thimphu government refused to take them back.
Now nearly 30 percent of the refugees have already exited Nepal for a fresh start in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Norway and more are expected to follow in the days to come.
Bhutan’s refugee leaders are now convincing the heads of the eight member states to start multilateral talks for their return to Bhutan. Nepal and Bhutan held 15 rounds of talks to repatriate the refugees from Nepal but the talks abated and have not been resumed.
The summit is the first biggest international event being held in the country which is predominantly Buddhist in culture.
The 60-km long mountanious route from Paro Airport to Thimpu was lined by thousands of schoolchildren, dressed in traditional robes — kira for girls and goh for boys who vigorously waved the flags of the eight nations.
Roads in the city are decorated with colourful banners which welcome foreign delegates and the weather is pleasant.
In accordance with Bhutan’s climate protection policy – Bhutan is one of the world’s greenest nations with nearly 70 percent forest cover- a joint declaration ‘Towards a Green and Happy South Asia’ is expected to be an outcome of the summit.
April 28th 2010
The 16th SAARC summit began in Thimpu on April 28, 2010 with heads of eight South Asian countries seeking a joint initiative to tackle climate change threats and also to boost trade and regional cooperation among SAARC nations.
The conference got under way in this serene and pollution-free capital city of Bhutan the summit’s key theme “Towards a Green and Happy South Asia” seems only apt.
Seeking a fresh approach to global climate talks the SAARC leaders would pitch for observer status to the bloc at the Mexico conference on global warming later this year. This would enable the eight South Asian nations – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan besides India – to expressive their concerns collectively and effectively, according to news sources.Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs of United States of America , Robert O Blake, Jr. led the US observer delegation to the 16th SAARC Summit that held in Thimphu, Bhutan on April 28-29 and held bilateral meetings with the regional leaders on the margins of the summit according to press releases.
Prior to reaching Bhutan, Mr. Blake paid a two-day visit to Nepal on April 25-26, during which he met with political leaders, several government officials and civil society to discuss the continuation of the peace process, the next steps in the drafting of the constitution, and economic development.
The 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit concluded in Thimphu (Bhutan) with a ‘joint declaration’ and a statement on climate change, and a promise for planting ten million trees in the region to mitigate deforestation. Also, Afghanistan included, the leaders of eight SAARC countries agreed to establish an inter-governmental expert group on climate change to monitor regional policy implementations. Collectively the leaders vowed to continue the fight against terrorist activities and expressed concern over the threat which jeopardizes ‘peace, security and economic stability’ of the region.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders on April 28 2010, and spoke in detail to the other members on the progress made by the eight-member regional association in its 25 years of existence. In the opening statement made by the Prime Minister of India, he said that though all the AARC member nations had created institutions for regional cooperation, they have not been empowered to be more proactive. On the positive side, new era of cooperation such as a development fund, food bank, free trade agreement and a university were poised to growing maturity.
While maintaining that declarations did not amount to regional cooperation, the Prime Minister said the SAARC’s potential would be met only when freer movement of people, goods, services and ideas took place. “In other words, the region must be better connected, empowered, fed and educated.” Manmohan Singh met his Pakistan counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani during the summit where they decided to keep the channels of dialogue open in a joint to restore “trust and confidence”. He also met leaders from SriLanka,Nepal and Bangladesh and discussed bilateral issues. India and Pakistan should compartmentalize their disputes to allow the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) reach its potential in terms of regional connectivity, trade and people-to-people contacts. The discussion between the leaders suggested that India and Pakistan should compartmentalize their disputes to allow the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) reach its potential in terms of regional connectivity, trade and people-to-people contacts.
Many leaders of the SAARC countries had passed on the suggestion to Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani during their bilateral meetings with him that specifically, Pakistan should address India’s concerns, especially with respect to the prosecution of all the Mumbai terror attack masterminds, highly placed sources disclosed to a major news source. While pointing out that all eight SAARC leaders were democratically elected, they expressed puzzlement as to why disputes could not be resolved by sitting across the table and addressing each other’s concerns.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have a similarity of views with Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives with regards to India. They all wanted Pakistan to stop procrastinating on the prosecution of the persons involved in the Mumbai attacks and eliminating the threat to India from non-state actors based on its soil.
Besides conveying these sentiments to Pakistan, some leaders also made a reference to the India-Pakistan dispute, directly or obliquely, in their opening speeches at the summit.
“I hope neighbours can find ways to compartmentalize their differences while I am, of course, referring to India and Pakistan. I hope the summit will lead to greater dialogue between them,” President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed told news people.
The leaders acknowledged that more than the two countries, it was the media that raised the prospects of an India-Pakistan summit meeting to a feverish pitch. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Gilani extended an invitation to Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan and the Indian leader responded by saying that he would love to visit Pakistan.
During the two day summit on April 28-29, 2010 Mr. Singh held bilateral talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Jigmi Thinley during which the two countries signed implementation agreements for Punatsangchhu-II and Mangdechhu hydroelectric project that have a combined capacity of 1710 MW.These agreements were signed in the presence of the two Prime ministers by External affairs minister S.M.Krishna and his Bhutanese counterpart Khandu Wangchuk. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Gilani extended an invitation to Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan and the Indian leader responded by saying that he would love to do that. Discussions of various issues between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Prime minister of Pakistan changed the climate between the two countries, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in Thimphu on Thursday.
Manmohan Singh took the India-Bhutan ties a step further, when he laid the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art medical college and launched a project that would make half of the population computer literate in the next five years. Singh and Thinley unveiled the foundation stones of the Bhutan Institute of Medical Sciences and that of the two hydroelectric projects.
Singh also met with fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and shared views on the just-concluded SAARC Summit and paid compliments to the excellent hospitality extended by Bhutan.
Two significant statements of the Summit:
1- Thimphu Silver Jubilee Declaration titled “Towards a Green and Happy South Asia.”
2- Thimphu statement on climate change.
The members of eight SAARC countries agreed to have an inter-governmental expert group with respect to climate change, who would meet twice a year at least, to develop and monitor regional policy implementations. The leaders had also made the decision to plant ten million trees in the next five years in all the member states as part of a regional aforestation and reforestation move.
Concerned about climate changes’ effect on 1.6 billion people of South Asia, the leaders also showed determination to promote the use of green and low-carbon technology.
The ‘Thimphu statement of climate change’ according to SAARC member states, faces the double challenge of addressing the negative impacts of climate change while trying to bring about socio-economic development. The leaders have told the SAARC secretary general to commission a study on ‘Climate risks in the regions: Ways to comprehensively address the related social, economic and environmental challenges’, to be presented at the next SAARC summit.
According to media sources in his closing remarks Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley, remarked that the ‘Thimphu statement on climate change’ would be a strong impetus to collaborative efforts in addressing issues of climate change, at many levels like national, regional and international. He said that the talks of the two days of April 28-29 2010 had been most educational and productive and added that everybody there were able to have detailed discussions on one of the most challenging issues of our times.
The secretary general was also instructed to commission a study aimed at accreditation of SAARC with the Kyoto Protocol’s adaptation fund as a regional entity for undertaking adaptation projects in South Asia.
Member states agreed to review the implementation of the Dhaka Declaration and SAARC action plan on climate change, in order to ensure implementation in a timely manner.
The 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit concluded in Thimphu (Bhutan) with a ‘joint declaration’ and a statement on climate change, and a promise for planting ten million trees in the region to mitigate deforestation. Also, Afghanistan included, the leaders of eight SAARC countries agreed to establish an inter-governmental expert group on climate change to monitor regional policy implementations. Collectively the leaders vowed to continue the fight against terrorist activities and expressed concern over the threat which jeopardizes ‘peace, security and economic stability’ of the region.
The Maldives would be the next venue for the next 17th SAARC Summit scheduled in 2011.
Dream Dare Win
www.jeywin.com
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