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South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, proposed by Ziaur Rahman, the then-president of Bangladesh, was established on December 8, 1985. SAARC is an association of eight countries of South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and most recently admitted, Afghanistan. These countries comprise an area of 5,127,500 km2 and a fifth of the world's population.
SAARC encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics control and anti-terrorism. SAARC has intentionally stressed these "core issues" and avoided more divisive political issues, above all the Kashmir dispute which bitterly divides the two largest member states, India and Pakistan. However, political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings.
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.
List of SAARC Summits
- December 7-8, 1985 at Dhaka
- November 16-17, 1986 at Bangalore
- November 2-4, 1987 at Kathmandu
- December 29-31, 1988 at Islamabad
- November 21-23, 1990 at Malé
- December 21, 1991 at Colombo
- April 10-11, 1993 at Dhaka
- May 2-4, 1995 at New Delhi
- May 12-14, 1997 at Malé
- July 29-31, 1998 at Colombo
- January 4-6, 2002 at Kathmandu
- January 2-6, 2004 at Islamabad
- November 12-13, 2005 at Dhaka
Areas of Cooperation
- Agriculture and Rural Development
- Health and Population Activities
- Women, Youth and Children
- Environment and Forestry
- Science and Technology and Meteorology
- Human Resources Development
- Transport
Future Membership
On 22 February 2005, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Kamal Kharrazi, indicated Iran's interest in joining SAARC, saying that his country could provide the region with "East-West connectivity".[1]
The People's Republic of China has also been suggested as a possible SAARC member, such membership being encouraged by Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, India is more reluctant about the prospect of Chinese membership, while Bhutan does not even have diplomatic relations with China.[2] At the 2005 summit in Dhaka, member states decided to give China and Japan observer status.
Results of 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 China and Japan. [3] 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.
Comparision with other Regional blocs
href="Most active regional blocs
|
Regional
bloc 1 |
Area (km²) |
Population |
GDP (PPP) ($US) |
Member
states 1 |
| in millions |
per capita |
| EU |
3,977,487 |
460,124,266 |
11,723,816 |
25,480 |
25 |
| CARICOM |
462,344 |
14,565,083 |
64,219 |
4,409 |
14+1 3 |
| ECOWAS |
5,112,903 |
251,646,263 |
342,519 |
1,361 |
15 |
| CEMAC |
3,020,142 |
34,970,529 |
85,136 |
2,435 |
6 |
| EAC |
1,763,777 |
97,865,428 |
104,239 |
1,065 |
3 |
| CSN |
17,339,153 |
370,158,470 |
2,868,430 |
7,749 |
10 |
| GCC |
2,285,844 |
35,869,438 |
536,223 |
14,949 |
6 |
| SACU |
2,693,418 |
51,055,878 |
541,433 |
10,605 |
5 |
| COMESA |
3,779,427 |
118,950,321 |
141,962 |
1,193 |
5 |
| NAFTA |
21,588,638 |
430,495,039 |
12,889,900 |
29,942 |
3 |
| ASEAN |
4,400,000 |
553,900,000 |
2,172,000 |
4,044 |
10 |
| SAARC |
5,136,740 |
1,467,255,669 |
4,074,031 |
2,777 |
8 |
| Agadir |
1,703,910 |
126,066,286 |
513,674 |
4,075 |
4 |
| EurAsEC |
20,789,100 |
208,067,618 |
1,689,137 |
8,118 |
6 |
| CACM |
422,614 |
37,816,598 |
159,536 |
4,219 |
5 |
| PARTA |
528,151 |
7,810,905 |
23,074 |
2,954 |
12+2 3 |
Reference
blocs and
countries 2 |
Area (km²) |
Population |
GDP (PPP) ($US) |
Political
divisions |
| in millions |
per capita |
| UN |
133,178,011 |
6,411,682,270 |
55,167,630 |
8,604 |
191 |
| India |
3,287,590 |
1,102,600,000 |
3,433,000 |
3,100 |
35 |
| China |
9,596,960 |
1,306,847,624 |
7,249,000 |
5,200 |
33 |
| USA |
9,631,418 |
296,900,571 |
11,190,000 |
39,100 |
50 |
| Canada |
9,984,670 |
32,507,874 |
958,700 |
29,800 |
13 |
| Russia |
17,075,200 |
143,782,338 |
1,282,000 |
8,900 |
89 |
1 Including data only for full and most active members
2 The first two states in the World by area, population and GDP (PPP)
3 Including non-sovereign autonomous entities of other states
██ smallest value among the blocs compared
██ largest value among the blocs compared
During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database
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See also
References
- ^ Iran's membership prospects
- ^ China's membership prospects
- ^ Afghan and further Chinese membership prospects
- ^ SAARC Admits Afghanistan
External links
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asian_Association_for_Regional_Cooperation under GFDL
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