Summits and forgotten promises
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
YET another summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ended last Sunday in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, adopting yet another declaration stuffed with lots of promises and exhortations. The South Asian leaders identified the right areas, including food and energy security, regional trade, climate change, connectivity, terrorism, poverty alleviation etc. where the countries of the region need to cooperate for the sake of their collective interest. They also expressed their strong resolve to achieve the common goal of improving the economic condition and standard of life of the peoples of the SAARC countries. The number of areas in which the members should cooperate has been on the rise since the regional forum came into being in 1985, notwithstanding the fact that the SAARC as a regional entity could not make much headway when a good number of similar organizations, including the ASEAN-the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations, have emerged as very effective entities, particularly in areas of trade promotion.
The South Asian leaders in a special statement on food security at the just concluded Colombo summit put greater emphasis on regional food security through the revival of the glory of South Asia as granary of the world and agreed on the early operationalisation of the proposed SAARC Food Bank. The leaders also underscored the need for drawing up a perspective plan for boosting agricultural production in the region. Like many other poor developing nations, a large segment of the populations of the SAARC countries are now passing through a difficult time due to the abnormal hike in food prices. Higher food prices have caused erosion in the gains achieved in the recent years in poverty alleviation in a number of regional countries. So, it was very much natural on the part of the South Asian leaders to demonstrate special interest in ensuring food security through the formation of a food bank and increase in farm output through cooperation in agricultural research and other farm practices. The leaders in the special statement directed the convening of an extraordinary meeting of the SAARC agricultural ministers in New Delhi in November next year to evolve and implement a people-centred short-to-medium term regional strategy and collaborative projects in the agriculture sector.
All concerned would appreciate their leaders' emphasis, among others, on ensuring future food and energy security and dismantling of the barriers to further expansion to trade among the regional countries. But what the people want is more action than words. They do get frustrated when they observe that their leaders are totally forgetful about the decisions taken in the past summits. For instance, there were lots of talks in the last couple of summits about the early operationalisation of the $300 million SAARC Development Fund, but nothing has happened until now. Similarly, the idea of food bank was also mooted earlier but it has failed to get the due attention of the policymakers. The South Asia Free Trade Area-SAFTA-has remained dormant since the member countries are yet to finalise their respective lists of sensitive items and remove non-tariff barriers while ensuring special trade concessions to the LDC members of the SAARC.
The SAARC has already got a facelift following the joining of the global economic superpowers-the USA, the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea - as observers. But that would not help much unless and until the organization can justify its existence by helping the member countries in their tasks of overcoming major socio-economic and climatic problems. The South Asian leaders in the 13th summit held in Dhaka promised to make the next two decades of SAARC different from two previous decades. Under the changing global economic scenario, the peoples of the region earnestly hope that their leaders being true to their promise would start implementing the plans and projects taken up for the common good of South Asia with due urgency.
The South Asian leaders in a special statement on food security at the just concluded Colombo summit put greater emphasis on regional food security through the revival of the glory of South Asia as granary of the world and agreed on the early operationalisation of the proposed SAARC Food Bank. The leaders also underscored the need for drawing up a perspective plan for boosting agricultural production in the region. Like many other poor developing nations, a large segment of the populations of the SAARC countries are now passing through a difficult time due to the abnormal hike in food prices. Higher food prices have caused erosion in the gains achieved in the recent years in poverty alleviation in a number of regional countries. So, it was very much natural on the part of the South Asian leaders to demonstrate special interest in ensuring food security through the formation of a food bank and increase in farm output through cooperation in agricultural research and other farm practices. The leaders in the special statement directed the convening of an extraordinary meeting of the SAARC agricultural ministers in New Delhi in November next year to evolve and implement a people-centred short-to-medium term regional strategy and collaborative projects in the agriculture sector.
All concerned would appreciate their leaders' emphasis, among others, on ensuring future food and energy security and dismantling of the barriers to further expansion to trade among the regional countries. But what the people want is more action than words. They do get frustrated when they observe that their leaders are totally forgetful about the decisions taken in the past summits. For instance, there were lots of talks in the last couple of summits about the early operationalisation of the $300 million SAARC Development Fund, but nothing has happened until now. Similarly, the idea of food bank was also mooted earlier but it has failed to get the due attention of the policymakers. The South Asia Free Trade Area-SAFTA-has remained dormant since the member countries are yet to finalise their respective lists of sensitive items and remove non-tariff barriers while ensuring special trade concessions to the LDC members of the SAARC.
The SAARC has already got a facelift following the joining of the global economic superpowers-the USA, the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea - as observers. But that would not help much unless and until the organization can justify its existence by helping the member countries in their tasks of overcoming major socio-economic and climatic problems. The South Asian leaders in the 13th summit held in Dhaka promised to make the next two decades of SAARC different from two previous decades. Under the changing global economic scenario, the peoples of the region earnestly hope that their leaders being true to their promise would start implementing the plans and projects taken up for the common good of South Asia with due urgency.