THE EVOLUTION OF SAARC
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC is a result of the concept of regional organization developed throughout the world. After the Second World War UN was established as a world body. Except this body various country of the world were organized in the shape of regional organizations. Especially after1960s they were organized for their common interests and benefits those have had the economic, geographical, cultural and other commonalities. Some of these organizations are :
ASEAN – Association of South East Asean Nations.
ECAFE – Economic Council For Africa and Far East
ARAB LEAGUE
AFRICAN UNION
EEC – European Economic Community(now it is known as EU)
BENELUX – Belgium, Natherland and Luxumberg.
After the establishment of such organizations south asean leaders also interested to give the shape of the organization representing this region as SAARC.
Zia Ur Rehman, president of Bangladesh, is the main designer of the SAARC.
In 1981 April – colombo meeting was held in colombo, participated the foreign secretaries of the five south asian nation .
In 1981 November – Maldives and Bhutan joined it .
Foreign ministers of the seven countries adopted the declaration of SAARC in August 1983 . After that formally Launched the program IPA (Integrated Program of Action) in 5 areas :
Agriculture
Rural development
Telecom
Meteorology
Helth and population .
From 1981 to 1985 14 meetings were held prior to establish the SAARC formally. Finally SAARC was established in 1985 dec 8 , during the first summit in Dhaka (7–8 dec. 1985.)
The founder signatories of the SAARC :
Bangladesh President Hussein Mohammad Ershad
Bhutan King Jigme Singhe Wangchuk
India PM Rajeev Gandhi
Makdives Presidend Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
Nepal King Birendra
Pakistan President Zia Ul Haq
Srilanka President Julius R Jayawardane
SAARC CHARTER ( It comprises ten article )
Preamble
Respect to UN Charter and NAM principle
Interdependncy of nations for mutual benefits
Common problem, interests, cultural traditions and politial and economic system of South Asian people.
Need of regional cooperation to uplift life stander of the S A people
Cooperation in economic social and technical sectors for mutual benefit
Growing cooperation, contact and visits among the nations will enhance friendship and understanding among the member states.
Article I
OBJECTIVES
a) To promote the welfare of the peoples of SOUTH ASIA and to improve their quality of life
b) To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region andto provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realise their full potentials;
c) To promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of SOUTH ASIA;
d) To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems;
e) To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural,
technical and scientific fields;
f) To strengthen cooperation with other developing countries;
g) To strengthen cooperation among themselves in international forums on matters of
common interests; and
h) To cooperate with international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes.
Article II
PRINCIPLES
1.Cooperation within the framework of the ASSOCIATION shall be based on respect for theprinciples of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, non -interferencein the internal affairs of other States and mutual benefit.
2. Such cooperation shall not be a substitute for bilateral and multilateral cooperation but
shall complement them.
3. Such cooperation shall not be inconsistent with bilateral and multilateral obligations.
Article III
MEETINGS OF THE HEADS OF STATE OR GOVERNMENT ( SUMMIT)
The Heads of State or Government shall meet once a year or more often as and when
considered necessary by the Member States. It is the highest authority of SAARC and the host of the meeting is organized according to the alphabetical order of member nations. 15 summits are held till now.
Article IV
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
It is the main decision maker body of the SAARC and it has the following functions:
a) Formulation of the policies
b) Review of the progress
c) Decision on new areas
d) Establishment of additional mechanism
e) Decision on other matters of general interest
The Council of Ministers shall meet twice a year. Extraordinary session of the Council may be held by agreement among the Member States.
Article V
STANDING COMMITTEE
The Standing Committee comprising the Foreign Secretaries and its functions are :
a) Overall monitoring and coordination
b) Approval of projects and programmes, and the modalities of their financing
c) Determination of inter-sectoral priorities
d) Mobilisation of regional and external resources
e) Identification of new areas of cooperation based on appropriate studies.
The Standing Committee shall meet as often as deemed necessary it submits periodic reports to the Council of Ministers.
Article VI
TECHNICAL COMMITTEES
It comprises the experts of the respective areas. Functions :
Phisibility study
Formulation of programmes and preparation of projects
Determination of financial implications of sectoral programmes
Formulation of recommendations regarding apportionment of costs
Monitoring of progress in implementation.
The Technical Committees shall submit periodic reports to the Standing Committee.
The Chairmanship of the Technical Committees shall normally rotate among Member States inalphabetical order every two years.
Article VII
ACTION COMMITTEES (WORKING COMMITTEES)
The Standing Committee may set up Action Committees comprising Member States
concerned with implementation of projects involving more than two but not all Member
States.
Article VIII
SECRETARIAT
There shall be a Secretariat of the ASSOCIATION. This secretariate is in KTM. The Secretary General of SAARC is nominated in the alphabetical order.
First Abul Ahasan, Bangladesh
Second Kanta Kishor Bhargav , India
Third Ibrahim Hussein Jaki , Maldives
Fourth Yadav Kanta Silwal, Nepal
Fifth Naeemuddin Hassan , Pakistan
Sixth Nihal Rodrigo , Sri Lanka
Seventh QAMA Rahim , Bangladesh
Eighth Chenkyab Dorjee , Bhutan
Ninth Shilkanta Sharma , India
Article IX
FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS
The contribution of each Member State towards financing of the activities of the
ASSOCIATION shall be voluntary. Each Technical Committee shall make recommendations for the apportionment of costs of implementing the programmes proposed by it.In case sufficient financial resources cannot be mobilised within the region for fundingactivities of the ASSOCIATION, external financing from appropriate sources may be mobilised with the approval of or by the Standing Committee. The voluntary financial contribution for each country is as follows
Afghanistan 5 %
Bangladesh 10.75 %
Bhutan 5 %
India 30.50 %
Maldives 5 %
Nepal 10.75 %
Pakistan 22.52 %
Sri Lanka 10.72 %
Article X
GENERAL PROVISIONS
1.Decisions at all levels shall be taken on the basis of unanimity.
2. Bilateral and contentious issues shall be excluded from the deliberations.
No comments:
Post a Comment