South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

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South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
SAARC

Organization logo
 

dark blue: members; blue: observer
English name South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
Seat of the organs Kathmandu , NepalNepalNepal 
Secretary General Sri LankaSri Lanka Esala Weerakoon
Member States 8th
Associate members 9
Official and working languages English
founding December 8, 1985
[1]

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (also South Asian Economic Community ) (of English South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ) (SAARC) was on 8. December 1985 in Dhaka ( Bangladesh founded) and is based in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu . Founding members are India , Pakistan , Bangladesh, Nepal , Sri Lanka , Bhutan and the Maldives . In April 2007, Afghanistan enteredjoined the organization at the New Delhi Summit. The People's Republic of China , Japan , the European Union , South Korea , the United States and Iran have observer status .

Its aim is cooperation in economic and technical matters, especially coordination in the areas of customs duties and cross-border trade. There are cooperation programs for agriculture and environmental protection . Political problems are mostly excluded because of the Kashmir conflict. The core of the economic cooperation is the South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement (SAPTA). The aim of this agreement is to liberalize regional trade by removing trade barriers and strengthening cooperation. So far, trade between SAARC countries was only 4 percent of their total foreign trade. The long term goal is to create a South Asian Free Trade Area ( South Asian Free Trade Area, SAFTA ) which then 1.6 billion consumers, which is about one-fifth of the world population will include. With the SAARC, a regional organization was created that was characterized by asymmetry and heterogeneity. Three out of four inhabitants of the member states live in India, India also comprises 72 percent of the total area of ​​South Asia and its share of the region's gross national product is more than 75 percent.

Member States

Members

observer

(Source):

Future members

  • China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China has expressed its interest in full membership. While Pakistan and Bangladesh support this wish, India is very hostile and Bhutan does not even have diplomatic relations with the PRC. At the 14th summit in Dhaka in 2005, India voted to accept the People's Republic of China and Japan as observers. At the following meeting in New Delhi, the PRC's application for full membership received support from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
  • MyanmarMyanmar Myanmar is also interested in full membership, but this is currently being rejected by India.
  • IranIranIran borders two SAARC member countries and traditionally has very strong cultural, economic and political ties with Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. On February 22, 2005, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi announced that his country was interested in membership. Due to the Iranian nuclear program, membership seems rather unlikely for the time being. On March 3, 2007, Iran applied for membership as an observer, which was approved at the SAARC summit on April 3, 2007 in New Delhi.
  • RussiaRussia Russia expressed its desire to join the SAARC as an observer. India supports this wish.

literature

Web links

Commons : South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d thehimalayantimes.com ( Memento from February 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ island.lk
  3. ↑ tehrantimes.com
  4. ↑ Observer States , accessed on August 21, 2012.
  5. ^ Afghan and further Chinese membership prospects ( Memento January 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ China's membership prospects
  7. ↑ chennaionline.com ( Memento from May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ telegraphnepal.com
  9. ↑ irna.ir ( Memento from February 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Mizzima News ( Memento from June 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ SAARC committee approves Iran plea
  12. ↑ english.people.com.cn
  13. ↑ monstersandcritics.com ( Memento from December 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )