How has the SAARC 17th summit gone off?

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Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury The just-concluded 17th summit of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is expected to provide the much-needed dynamism and stimulus to the forum. It has so far achieved modest gains during the last twenty six years. However, it is now poised to accomplish bigger progress in the coming days. The 20-point "Addu Declaration", adopted by the heads of government in their two-day deliberations in the island state of the Maldives, is likely to go a long way towards making the forum more action-oriented. The summit has identified some critically important fields for collective cooperation for the socio-economic development of the 1.5 billion people living in the most densely populated region in the world. Such areas range from the economy to connectivity and from food security to climate change. It is expected that the forum will score some progress -- albeit its record of sluggish movement -- if concerted efforts are made to achieve the objectives of the "Addu Declaration". Admittedly, such declarations mostly gather dust even if they are important and formulated after assiduous efforts for adoption by the summit. One would not be entirely wrong to take a similar view about the 17th SAARC summit at "Addu", in the vicinity of the Maldives capital, Male. But it may also sound plausible that the leaders of the SAARC do now appreciate more than before that this forum can ill-afford to take such burden any longer; it is already under increasing pressure to deliver, at least, some tangible outcomes, in fields that are inextricably linked with efforts for improving the socio-economic conditions of the people of south Asia. True, diversity and disparate characters of the member-nations of the SAARC make it quite difficult for making concerted endeavours for overall regional development. But the spirit, now being demonstrated by its eight members cutting across the diverse nature amid many complexities in this region, sends positive signals that the SAARC will take cooperative actions on crucially important key areas with greater seriousness in the days ahead for collective gains. The four agreements signed by the foreign ministers, in the presence of their heads of government, and several other areas covered by the summit, provide fresh enthusiasm about turning the SAARC into a more effective regional forum. Full and smooth implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), along with greater intra-regional long-term investment, is likely to remove some of the confusion and ambiguity about trade and commercial sides of the region as far as the needed cooperation is concerned. It now remains to be seen how effectively and sincerely such decisions are implemented so that the forum can overcome the inertia and indecisiveness that have largely gripped it in recent years. The 16th summit in Bhutan gave indication that the SAARC, withstanding the political pressures that seek to scuttle its progress, and the just-concluded conference in the Maldives have, further happily, reinforced that impression as the leaders showed greater inclination towards cohesion in taking the forum to its avowed goals as far as possible. Arguably, it is a Herculean task to forge cooperation among eight nations in a crisis-ridden region like south Asia where political divides, on one hand, and resource constraints, on the other, make it quite difficult to move ahead steadily towards the desired objectives. However, the silver lining is that the clouds of mistrust and enmity are disappearing although not as speedily as all concerned would have liked to see that. But at least, such clouds now seem to be disappearing slowly. This augurs well for making the overall climate more conducive now to collective cooperation than before. The forum had begun its quest for south Asian cooperation in 1985 from the first summit in Bangladesh capital and later identified nine areas for integrated programme of action (IPA). It has slowly been enlarging its fields covering diverse areas. The 17th summit in the Maldives, the smallest member of the group in terms of population and the country that has commendably hosted the great event with an admirable ability for the third time, will hopefully add a new fillip to the SAARC in the sense that the grouping will henceforth be more vibrant and action-oriented, despite all other limitations. All that the leaders of the SAARC need to do in its wake is to keep a close eye on the progress of the implementation of the decisions that they have already taken in the summit and see to it that the steam generated in the gathering is not lost in the interregnum of the next summit. zaglulbss@yahoo.com