Assignment on South Asia

Topic: SAARC

Submitted To: Dr. M .Hashim

Submitted By:, M Mujahid Munir, Tayeba Malik, Sadia Ubaid

Zainab Ubaid, M Gohar Manzoor, M Sumaid Anees

Roll No:07,25,27,30,31,33

Department:Geography

Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan

 What is Regional Study

Area studies (also known as regional studies) are interdisciplinary fields of research and
scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions.
The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many
heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing both the social sciences and the humanities.
Typical area study programs involve international relations, strategic studies, history, political
science, political economy, cultural studies, languages, geography, literature, and other related
disciplines. In contrast to cultural studies, area studies often include diaspora and emigration from
the area.

SAARC

INTRODUCTION
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)is an organization of South Asian
nations, which was established on 8 December 1985 when the government of Bangladesh ,Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal ,Pakistan, and Sri Lanka formally adopted its charter providing for the
promotion of economic and social progress, cultural development within the South Asia region
and also for friendship and cooperation with other developing countries. Afghanistan joined the
organization in 2007. It is headquartered in Kath mandu ,Nepal. The meetings of the heads of the
states are usually scheduled annually while the meetings of foreign secretaries ,twice in a year.

Objectives
 The objectives of the Association as defined in the Charter are:
To promote the welfare of the people of South Asia and to improve their quality of life;
To accelerate economic growth ,social progress and cultural development in the region and to
provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realize their full potential;
To promote and strengthen selective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia;
To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another’s problems; To
promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural and
technical and scientific fields;
To strengthen cooperation with other developing countries;
To strengthen cooperation among themselves in international forums on matters of common
interest; and
To cooperate with international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes.

Principles of SAARC
Respect for sovereignty territorial integrity political equality and independence of all member
states.
Non-interference in the internal matters is one of its objectives.
Cooperation for mutual benefit.
All decisions to be taken unanimously and need a quorum of all eight members.
All bilateral issues to be kept aside and only multilateral (involving many countries) issues to
be discussed without being prejudiced by bilateral issues.

Organizational structure
Council of Ministers
Standing Committee
Technical Committee
Programming Committee
Secretariat

Areas of Cooperation

The areas of cooperation are as follows:

Agriculture and Rural Development
Investment and Commercial Dispute Settlement
Biotechnology
Culture
Economic and Trade
Education
Energy
Environment
Finance
Food Security and SAARC Food Bank

Information and Communication Technology

Poverty Alleviation
Science and Technology
 Security Aspects-Drug and Drug related crimes Terrorism Police matters
Social Development
Tourism
Funding Mechanism

List of SAARC Summits

Firstsummit:7-8December,1985(Dhaka)
SecondSummit:16-17November,1986(Bangalore)
ThirdSummit:2-4November,1987(Kathmandu)
FourthSummit:29-31December,1988(Islamabad)
FifthSummit:21-23November,1990(Male)
SixthSummit:21December,1991(Colombo)
SeventhSummit:10-11April,1993(Dhaka)
EighthSummit:2-4May,1995(NewDelhi)
NinthSummit:12-14May,1997(Male)
TenthSummit:29-31July,1998(Colombo)
EleventhSummit:4-6January,2002(Kathmandu)

TwelfthSummit:2-6January,2004(Islamabad)
ThirteenthSummit:12-13November,2005(Dhaka)
FourteenthSummit:3-4April,2007(New Delhi)
FifteenthSummit:1-3August,2008 (Colombo)
SixteenthSummit:28-29April,2010(Thimphu)
SeventeenthSummit:10-11November,2011(Maldives)
EighteenthSummit:26-27November,2014(Kathmandu)
NineteenthSummit:15-19November,2016(Islamabad)– [Cancelled]

SAARC Specialized Bodies

SAARC Development Fund (SDF)
South Asian University (SAU)
SAARC Arbitration Council
South Asian Regional Standards Organization

Problems South Asia continues to be plagued with on going disputes among nations ,and the
countries of the SAARC are grappling with conflicts within their own national territorial
boundaries. Tiffs between India and Pakistan have dominated SAARC since its formationin1985,
and played the central role of failing to boost economic growth and collective self-reliance. Both
countries have under mined the bloc to the extent that members do more trade through bilateral
partnerships than as a region. As a result, growth gap sin South Asia have been widening sharply.

The various problems faced by the association are as follows:

Policy of non-interference
Championed by soft power of India.
Large variety regional and cultural differences.
Lack of financial resources and advanced technologies
Bilateral dispute and differences.
Political instability
Geopolitical tensions
 Trust deficit and lack of social cohesion
Global challenges

Internal problems constituting social, economic and developmental issues.

Low level of Intra SAARC trade
Suffers from an acute resource crunch
Underdeveloped Infrastructure
Food Security reserve failed to meet the need during crisis in certain states.
Lack of effective implication of SAARC programmes.

Prospects

SAARC, as an organization , reflects the South Asian identity of the countries, historically and
contemporarily. This is a naturally made geographical identity. Equally, there is a cultural,
linguistic, religious and culinary affinity that defines South Asia.
South Asia needs increased co-operations among its countries to face challenges posed by
hikes in food prices, energy prices, recurrent disasters and climate change due to geographic,
economic ,cultural and other strategic reasons.
South Asia has distinct advantages to cooperate in many areas including cross border
infrastructure and services
. South Asia has shown impressive growth in the last decade.
This growth is reflected in the growth of trade and investment in the region.
India has been star performer among all South Asian countries.
More global integration and South Asia’s proximity to the growing Asian region (China, ASEAN)
are explanatory factors of this growth.
Large human capital base combined with competition through open economies is playing a
crucial role in the growth process.
Increased remittances and growing middle class with high purchasing power.
Youth bulge in a perspective possible demographic dividend.
High growth in services with modern technology.
In a region increasingly targeted by Chinese investment and loans, SAARC could be a common
platform to demand more sustainable alternatives for development, or to oppose trade tariffs
together, or to demand better terms for South Asian labour around the world.
The potential of organization to maintain peace and stability in the region should be explored by
all the member countries.
SAARC should be allowed to progress naturally and the people of South Asia , who make up a
quarter of the world’s population should be offered more people-to- people contact and cultural
cohesiveness.

Conclusion
 It has often been argued that a ‘SAARC Parliament could go beyond the bureaucratic-technical
parameters of the existing organization and promote new political, moral and cultural dimensions
of regionalism in South Asia’.
The situation with regard to South Asian regionalism has been beautifully captured by
Lawrence Sa ez, “South Asia forms a unique regional security complex that enable scertain forms
of regional cooperation and bars cooperation on other issue areas”.