South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

**South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation**
	SAARC logo ; SAARC logo
Member states	Observer states
Statistics
Area; - Total	7th if ranked; 5,130,746 km²
Population; - Total (2004); - Density	1st if ranked; 1,467,255,669; 285.9 people/km²
GDP (PPP, 2005); - Total; - Per capita	3rd if ranked; $4,074,031 million; $2,777
Other information
CurrenciesTemplate:Fn	Afghani (AFN); Taka (BDT); Ngultrum (BTN) ; Indian Rupee (INR) ; Rufiyaa (MVR) ; Nepalese Rupee (NPR) ; Pakistani Rupee (PKR) ; Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR} ;
Time zone	UTC +4:30 to +6:00
Calling codes	Not standardized
Official Website	http://www.saarc-sec.org/main.php
	Template:Fnb Proposed unified currency

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the largest regional organization in the world, covering approximately 1.47 billion people. SAARC is an economic and political organization of eight countires in Southern Asia. The organization was established on December 8, 1985 by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan. Afghanistan was accepted as the eight member of SAARC on November 13, 2005.

History

In the late 1970s, Bangladesh's President Ziaur Rahman, proposed the creation of a trade bloc consisting of South Asian countries. The Bangladeshi proposal was accepted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during a meeting held in Colombo in 1981. In August 1983, the leaders adopted the Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation during a summit which was held in New Delhi. The seven South Asian countries, which also included Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan, agreed on five areas of cooperation:

Agriculture and Rural Development
Telecommunications, Science, Technology and Meteorology
Heath and Population Activities
Transport
Human Resource Development

Ineffectiveness

SAARC's inability to play a crucial role in integrating South Asia is often credited to the political and military rivalry between India and Pakistan. Though Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have much warmer relations with India, they fear that the more integrated South Asia is, the greater will be India's dominance over South Asian nations. It is due to these political and territorial disputes that South Asian nations have not been able to harness the benefits of a unified economy. Over the years, SAARC's role in South Asia has been greatly diminished and is now used as a mere platform for annual talks and meetings between its members.

Political issues

SAARC has intentionally laid more stress on "core issues" mentioned above rather than more decisive political issues like the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan and the Sri Lankan civil war. However, political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings. SAARC has also refrained itself from interfering in the internal matters of its member states. During the 12th and 13th SAARC summits, extreme emphasis was laid upon greater cooperation between the SAARC members to fight terrorism.

Free trade agreement

Over the years, the SAARC members have expressed their unwillingness on signing a Free trade agreement. Though India has several trade pacts with Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan, it hasn't been too keen on signing similar trade agreements with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh due to political and economic concerns. In 1993, SAARC countries signed an agreement to gradually lower tariffs within the region. Nine years later, at the 12th SAARC summit at Islamabad, SAARC countries devised the South Asia Free Trade Agreement which created a framework for the establishment of a free trade zone covering 1.4 billion people. This agreement went into force on January 1, 2006. Under this agreement, SAARC members will bring their duties down to 20 percent by 2007.

Dhaka 2005 Summit

On November 13, 2005, the Dhaka Summit issued a declaration to admit the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as a member, and to accord observer status to People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea and United States of America. ^[1] The nations also agreed to organize development funds under a single financial institution with a permanent secretariat, that would cover all SAARC programs ranging from social, to infrastructure, to economic ones.

Membership

Current members:

Observer nations:

List of SAARC Summits

Future Membership

The Islamic Republic of Iran is the only country in Southern Asia that is not a part of SAARC. Iran has traditionally enjoyed strong cultural, economic and political relationship with both India and Pakistan and has expressed its desire to become a member of the South Asian organization. On 22 February 2005, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Kamal Kharrazi, indicated Iran's interest in joining SAARC by saying that his country could provide the region with "East-West connectivity".^[2] However, due to the on-going row over Iran's nuclear facilities, it seems unlikey that Iran would be accepted as a member of the SAARC.

The People's Republic of China has shown its interest in joining SAARC. While Pakistan and Bangladesh support China's candiature, India is more reluctant about the prospect of Chinese membership, while Bhutan does not even have diplomatic relations with China.^[3] However, during the 2005 Dhaka summit, India agreed on granting observor status to the PRC along with Japan.

In April 2006, the United States of America and South Korea made formal requests to be granted observer status. The European Union has also indicated interest in being given observer status, and made a formal request for the same to the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in July 2006.^[1] ^[2]. On August 2nd, 2006 Foreign ministers of SAARC countries agreed in principle to grant observer status to the US, South Korea and the European Union.^[3]

Comparison with other Regional blocs

NB: The European Union is more than an economic regional bloc, due to the wide-ranging treaties between its member states, covering areas from free movement to a common currency and common legislation. Although not a sovereign state, this supranational entity is nevertheless far more integrated than most regional blocs or similar associations between states.

**Most active regional blocs**
Regional bloc ¹	Area (km2)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		GDP (nominal) ($US)		Member states ¹
Regional bloc ¹	Area (km2)	Population	in millions	per capita	in millions	per capita	Member states ¹
East Asian Community	25,339,726	3,114,587,587	19,781,092	6,354	10,794,655	3,466	16
EU^*	3,977,487	460,124,266	11,723,816	25,480	13,446,050	28,922	25
CARICOM	462,344	14,565,083	64,219	4,409	41,043	2,812	14+1 ³
ECOWAS	5,112,903	251,646,263	342,519	1,361	155,863	619	15
CEMAC	3,020,142	34,970,529	85,136	2,435	40,609	1,161	6
EAC	1,763,777	97,865,428	104,239	1,065	37,280	380	3
CSN	17,339,153	370,158,470	2,868,430	7,749	1,373,635	1,009	10
GCC	2,285,844	35,869,438	536,223	14,949	517,739	14,433	6
SACU	2,693,418	51,055,878	541,433	10,605	245,107	4,800	5
COMESA	3,779,427	118,950,321	141,962	1,193			20
NAFTA	21,588,638	430,495,039	12,889,900	29,942	14,384,370	33,401	3
ASEAN	4,400,000	553,900,000	2,172,000	4,044	8,61900	1,079	10
SAARC	5,136,740	1,467,255,669	4,074,031	2,777			8
Agadir	1,703,910	126,066,286	513,674	4,075			4
EurAsEC	20,789,100	208,067,618	1,689,137	8,118			6
CACM	422,614	37,816,598	159,536	4,219			5
PARTA	528,151	7,810,905	23,074	2,954			12+2 ³
Reference blocs and countries ²	Area (km2)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		GDP (nominal) ($US)		Political divisions
Reference blocs and countries ²	Area (km2)	Population	in millions	per capita	in millions	per capita	Political divisions
UN	133,178,011	6,411,682,270	55,167,630	8,604	44,433,002	6,930	192
Canada	9,984,670	32,507,874	1,077,000	34,273	1,130,208	35,133	13
China (PRC) ⁴	9,596,960	1,306,847,624	8,182,000	6,300	2,224,811	1,709	33
India	3,287,590	1,102,600,000	3,433,000	3,100	775,410	705	35
Japan	377,835	127,333,002	3,910,728	30,615	4,571,314	35,757	47
Russia	17,075,200	143,782,338	1,589,000	8,900	766,180	5,349	89
USA	9,631,418	296,900,571	11,190,000	39,100	12,485,725	42,000	50
¹ Including data only for full and most active members ² The first two states in the World by area, population and GDP (PPP)･GDP (nominal) ³ Including non-sovereign autonomous entities of other states ⁴ Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau and regions administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan). ^* Although the European Union is not a federation in the strict sense, it is far more than a free-trade association or an ordinary regional bloc, and it has many of the attributes associated with independent nations: its own flag, anthem, central bank, currency, elected parliament, supreme court and common foreign and security policy. smallest value among the blocs compared largest value among the blocs compared During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database This box: view talk edit

References

External links

Template:SAARC

[1] [4]

[2] [5]

[3] [6]

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