Time for closer cooperation among Saarc nations
Friday, 3 April 2009
Syed Fattahul Alim
The nation states in the present-day context of enhanced global concern on the issues of economy, trade and commerce are quite a different kettle of fish compared to those past eras when excessive focus was given on political confrontation, sphere of influence and balance of power. In such an ambience, cooperation was not the hallmark of relationship among most nation states as they were divided between two major antagonistic power camps dictated by two great powers. But the world has undergone a sea change during the last two decades. Small wonder one sees the sprouting of many regional forums of economic cooperation between national states in place of confrontation-prone regional groupings of the earlier days.
To give cooperation among close neighbours of South Asia a chance, the regional forum named South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Saarc, was created at the end of 1985. Meanwhile, this regional forum comprising countries of South Asia sharing a common political history as well as cultural legacy has crossed more than 23 years. But this regional body, which is also the biggest of any other such regional forums in the world in consideration of the huge size of the population (about 1.47 billion) it represents, has not made any tangible progress on its economic front so far. Many barriers to trade and travel are prejudicing the expected growth of the regional economic forum. The big issues of cooperation like a common currency, connectivity, customs union and visa, etch are still unaddressed. Sadly though, distrust, instead of mutual trust, is still the dominant characteristic of the state to state relations between the powerful members of the forum, especially in view of their military might.
How did then the other regional economic forums like the European Union (EU) in Europe and the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) become so successful?
In fact, historical similarity is no guarantee for enhanced level of cooperation between nation states. Rather such closeness may be the façade of a bitter past. The nations of the Indian subcontinent, especially those created through the 'partition' done by the imperial Britain at the fag end of the fourth decade of the last century, inherit such a not-so-pleasant past. That past has been haunting the major powers of South Asia and, therefore, creating the obstacle to enhanced regional cooperation among the Saarc nations. Under the circumstances, it is also not practicable to think that such mistrust born of past bitterness can be wished away through some magic, especially when the recent pattern of leadership of the regional nations is not known for extraordinary statesmanship on the part of the national leaders.
In such a situation, it would be wiser to start with smaller steps with limited ambitions, so that, unlike in the case of negotiations on bigger issues, those, may not founder on the rocks of deep-rooted distrust and fear. Many well-meaning though ambitious attempts meanwhile could not take off. Free flow of trade, information, workers, establishing a common currency, etc., are undoubtedly big ideas that will need some time before they may gain the necessary strength to take roots in the perceptions of the leaders of the regional forum.
The two-day discussion titled 'Regional Conference on Inclusive Development and Climate Justice in South Asia held the other day in the city attended by the finance minister, parliamentarians and economists echoed such a view of taking smaller steps to pave the way for bigger cooperation among the Saarc nations. The finance minister, AMA Muhith, who inaugurated the conference, on the other hand, suggested that less ponderous, but no less important issues like agriculture, water resources and transportation can be sorted out first. As some parliamentarians speaking at the conference pointed out, the intra-regional talks often lay disproportionate emphasis on bigger issues of trade and commerce whose beneficiaries are the richer people of the region. Though in the long run the masses get the benefits of relaxed rules of regional trade, common currency etc, still in the short term the impacts of these agreements are not immediately visible to the common people. However, issues in which popular interests are instantly visible may serve to bridge the gap between the regional talks on the more weighty matters of regional interests involving trade and commerce.
Such categorisation of issues of regional cooperation is, however, not foolproof either. In fact, the softer issues may also turn out to be rather hard ones in the long term. The sharing of water resources between Bangladesh and India is one such apparently a softer variety of issues. But it has proved to be a tricky one over the years. The issues of agriculture, travel, transportation and so on may not really be so soft as one may be wont to think in the beginning.
There are cynics who think that the barriers to meaningful cooperation between the regional nations are insurmountable, so they do not see any light at the end of tunnel in the foreseeable future. But such cynicism is also hardly tenable, because the forum is still intact and the annual summits of the heads of state and government are being held despite the difficulties. In the past, the summit was held even though armies of two nuclear-armed nations of Saarc were about to start a war between them.
If anything, this is certainly a show of some degree of maturity on the part of the leaders of the Saarc nations, as they showed due respect to the forum despite their warlike preparations at the national borders. So, though have not yet shown the kind of statesmanship and generosity that a Nelson Mandela would have shown, they have at least the modicum of wisdom not to extinguish all the hopes of the people of the sub-continent.
While the major economic powers of Saarc are still in the straitjacket of bilateralism at best and unilateralism at worst, they are fast getting out of touch with the dominant spirit of the time. The ongoing global economic downturn should have tumbled them to the reality. Increased cooperation among the nations is the best prescription for wading through the uncertain waters of the present time. The nations that are proud of bigger economic might are now also the more vulnerable amid the economic downturn worldwide. In this situation, the more the cooperation among the regional economies, the better is the chance that they might survive the raging financial storm.
The Saarc nations, especially the bigger and mightier, members, should better realise the benefits of common interests in this time of crisis.
Though the importance of cooperative approach to problems may not be that evident in times of comparative peace, stability and steady pace of growth by any individual economy, it may prove to be so in the time of crisis. The ongoing recession is one such time of adversity when nations need to forgo their ego and extend a hand of cooperation to its other neighbours. It is hoped that the members of the Saarc would now realize the import of this regional forum more than ever before and close their ranks to ward cushion south Asia from the worst ever economic decline the world has seen before.
So, the workable cooperation among the Saarc countries may start from the less weighty issues like the ones as mentioned by the Finance Minister at the conference. It may be the less controversial but more popular ones. Issues of climate change, which pose equal threat to all the forum members, may be the starting point of enhanced level of cooperation among the Saarc member nations. The bigger nations have the bigger stakes in the damaging impacts of climate change. In that case, it would provide the bigger nations of the region to show their leadership and also leave an inspiring influence on the smaller nations to follow the instance of the regional leaders.
The nation states in the present-day context of enhanced global concern on the issues of economy, trade and commerce are quite a different kettle of fish compared to those past eras when excessive focus was given on political confrontation, sphere of influence and balance of power. In such an ambience, cooperation was not the hallmark of relationship among most nation states as they were divided between two major antagonistic power camps dictated by two great powers. But the world has undergone a sea change during the last two decades. Small wonder one sees the sprouting of many regional forums of economic cooperation between national states in place of confrontation-prone regional groupings of the earlier days.
To give cooperation among close neighbours of South Asia a chance, the regional forum named South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Saarc, was created at the end of 1985. Meanwhile, this regional forum comprising countries of South Asia sharing a common political history as well as cultural legacy has crossed more than 23 years. But this regional body, which is also the biggest of any other such regional forums in the world in consideration of the huge size of the population (about 1.47 billion) it represents, has not made any tangible progress on its economic front so far. Many barriers to trade and travel are prejudicing the expected growth of the regional economic forum. The big issues of cooperation like a common currency, connectivity, customs union and visa, etch are still unaddressed. Sadly though, distrust, instead of mutual trust, is still the dominant characteristic of the state to state relations between the powerful members of the forum, especially in view of their military might.
How did then the other regional economic forums like the European Union (EU) in Europe and the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) become so successful?
In fact, historical similarity is no guarantee for enhanced level of cooperation between nation states. Rather such closeness may be the façade of a bitter past. The nations of the Indian subcontinent, especially those created through the 'partition' done by the imperial Britain at the fag end of the fourth decade of the last century, inherit such a not-so-pleasant past. That past has been haunting the major powers of South Asia and, therefore, creating the obstacle to enhanced regional cooperation among the Saarc nations. Under the circumstances, it is also not practicable to think that such mistrust born of past bitterness can be wished away through some magic, especially when the recent pattern of leadership of the regional nations is not known for extraordinary statesmanship on the part of the national leaders.
In such a situation, it would be wiser to start with smaller steps with limited ambitions, so that, unlike in the case of negotiations on bigger issues, those, may not founder on the rocks of deep-rooted distrust and fear. Many well-meaning though ambitious attempts meanwhile could not take off. Free flow of trade, information, workers, establishing a common currency, etc., are undoubtedly big ideas that will need some time before they may gain the necessary strength to take roots in the perceptions of the leaders of the regional forum.
The two-day discussion titled 'Regional Conference on Inclusive Development and Climate Justice in South Asia held the other day in the city attended by the finance minister, parliamentarians and economists echoed such a view of taking smaller steps to pave the way for bigger cooperation among the Saarc nations. The finance minister, AMA Muhith, who inaugurated the conference, on the other hand, suggested that less ponderous, but no less important issues like agriculture, water resources and transportation can be sorted out first. As some parliamentarians speaking at the conference pointed out, the intra-regional talks often lay disproportionate emphasis on bigger issues of trade and commerce whose beneficiaries are the richer people of the region. Though in the long run the masses get the benefits of relaxed rules of regional trade, common currency etc, still in the short term the impacts of these agreements are not immediately visible to the common people. However, issues in which popular interests are instantly visible may serve to bridge the gap between the regional talks on the more weighty matters of regional interests involving trade and commerce.
Such categorisation of issues of regional cooperation is, however, not foolproof either. In fact, the softer issues may also turn out to be rather hard ones in the long term. The sharing of water resources between Bangladesh and India is one such apparently a softer variety of issues. But it has proved to be a tricky one over the years. The issues of agriculture, travel, transportation and so on may not really be so soft as one may be wont to think in the beginning.
There are cynics who think that the barriers to meaningful cooperation between the regional nations are insurmountable, so they do not see any light at the end of tunnel in the foreseeable future. But such cynicism is also hardly tenable, because the forum is still intact and the annual summits of the heads of state and government are being held despite the difficulties. In the past, the summit was held even though armies of two nuclear-armed nations of Saarc were about to start a war between them.
If anything, this is certainly a show of some degree of maturity on the part of the leaders of the Saarc nations, as they showed due respect to the forum despite their warlike preparations at the national borders. So, though have not yet shown the kind of statesmanship and generosity that a Nelson Mandela would have shown, they have at least the modicum of wisdom not to extinguish all the hopes of the people of the sub-continent.
While the major economic powers of Saarc are still in the straitjacket of bilateralism at best and unilateralism at worst, they are fast getting out of touch with the dominant spirit of the time. The ongoing global economic downturn should have tumbled them to the reality. Increased cooperation among the nations is the best prescription for wading through the uncertain waters of the present time. The nations that are proud of bigger economic might are now also the more vulnerable amid the economic downturn worldwide. In this situation, the more the cooperation among the regional economies, the better is the chance that they might survive the raging financial storm.
The Saarc nations, especially the bigger and mightier, members, should better realise the benefits of common interests in this time of crisis.
Though the importance of cooperative approach to problems may not be that evident in times of comparative peace, stability and steady pace of growth by any individual economy, it may prove to be so in the time of crisis. The ongoing recession is one such time of adversity when nations need to forgo their ego and extend a hand of cooperation to its other neighbours. It is hoped that the members of the Saarc would now realize the import of this regional forum more than ever before and close their ranks to ward cushion south Asia from the worst ever economic decline the world has seen before.
So, the workable cooperation among the Saarc countries may start from the less weighty issues like the ones as mentioned by the Finance Minister at the conference. It may be the less controversial but more popular ones. Issues of climate change, which pose equal threat to all the forum members, may be the starting point of enhanced level of cooperation among the Saarc member nations. The bigger nations have the bigger stakes in the damaging impacts of climate change. In that case, it would provide the bigger nations of the region to show their leadership and also leave an inspiring influence on the smaller nations to follow the instance of the regional leaders.