With the conclusion of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) mini-summit held recently in Pokhara, one can make three separate but interrelated arguments about the three-decade-old regional organisation. First, the 37th session of the Saarc Council of Ministers in the lake city did not lead to any serious implementable programmes or policy actions. Though a couple of organisations got the nod to be set up and a few expressions of intent towards tackling the menaces of terrorism and poverty were made, there was nothing to signify that the regional grouping has really hit the ground running. Second, the four day extravaganza that unfolded seemed nothing more than ritualistic and did not do much to allay the doubts of critics that Saarc is nothing more than a magnificent paper tiger or a ‘club of tongues’. This was certified by the slow progress on important issues of regional connectivity and implementation of past agreements. Third, it became evident, if it was not already so, that Saarc as a regional grouping has important lessons to learn from smaller yet more robust and efficient groupings like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). 

Pokhara showboat

The most significant achievement of the Pokhara summit, as pointed by many newspapers, is the declaration of holding biennial Saarc Summits in the month of November starting from this year in Pakistan which is both startling and significant, given that this has not been done for the past three decades. The next Secretary General for the grouping was proposed by Pakistan in the form of Mr Amjad Hussain B Sial of the Pakistani Foreign Service and he got the endorsement from the Saarc Council of Ministers. There was an uncharacteristically concordant decision made between India and Pakistan to split the Disaster Management and Environment Centres amongst themselves after a round of negotiations. However, the event was overshadowed by a conspicuous yet customary absence of consensus between the countries in the grouping on a slew of measures and agreements ranging from regional integration, connectivity, signing the Saarc Youth Charter and projects approval for nine observer nations among others. The Saarc Railway and Motor Vehicles Agreements could not garner consensus yet again. 

Apart from the above, four reports were forwarded by Saarc Specialised Agencies at the 52nd Programming Committee meeting; they were submitted by the chiefs of Saarc University, Saarc Development Fund (SDF), Saarc Arbitration Council (SARCO) and Saarc Regional Standard Organisation (SARSO). It is not surprising to note that SARCO given the task of adopting Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (ADR) to settle disputes through arbitration and conciliation has neither resolved a single dispute nor undertaken any arbitration as the existing International Arbitration Centres in different countries have not harmonised their procedures for the use of ADR through SARCO. Only three projects have been proposed by the Saarc Secretariat under the SDF and 10 in total with an outlay of merely $70 million. The SARSO became operationalised and got its first director general only in April 2014. It has formed six Sectoral Technical Committees on harmonising standards across different commodity segments, but they remain ineffective due to the relatively small product basket as compared to the large sensitive lists that countries of Saarc still have under the South Asian Free Trade Area. The Saarc Food Bank too has never been operationalised even during the worst humanitarian crises despite having 241,580 tonnes in reserve (where this is located is anyone’s guess).

A paper tiger or vision for future

Having pointed to the paltry achievements and a bag full of failures, it is imperative to understand that Saarc largely remains a geopolitical grouping that has historically given less attention to economic integration. It is also important to realise that in the changing global order where globalisation has made the world ever more economically integrated and geo-economics has taken centre stage in foreign policy actions, there needs to be growing emphasis in this regard in South Asia which fairs abysmally in terms of intra-regional connectivity and trade. One of the very few reasons to be optimistic about the future of Saarc grouping is the slew of initiatives that are being taken at national and sub-regional level with the aim of making them regional after proving their effectiveness. 

The BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) initiatives that were kickstarted a couple of years back can prove to be an oasis in the desert of opportunity when actual benefits start trickling down to the larger populace. Given that the BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement is in the last stretch of having the protocols to the agreement finalised and there is a consistent engagement with regard to other sectors such as power and water management, this might prove to be a trendsetter for the rest of the countries in the grouping to follow. In the Saarc Council of Ministers meet last week, Nepal expressed willingness to join the India-initiated SAARC Satellite Project, which has been backed by Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The Saarc satellite will be used for meteorological purpose as well as to strengthen information and communication sharing capabilities.

Saarc has important lessons to learn from Asean which has an intra-regional trade of 29 percent as compared to Saarc’s five percent. Asean has put in place a very efficient Asean Strategic Transport Plan, which is already functional on some fronts. The countries that have ratified a particular agreement to ensure that it becomes functional at the sub-regional level in order to not just test its efficacy on the ground but also to convince other member states of its benefits. The Asean Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Inter-State Transport and the Asean Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport are in force in Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam pending ratification to some specific protocols from other countries in the grouping. This approach can be the only viable option at present for Saarc, given the obstinacy shown in negotiations by traditional foes in reaching agreement on the transport, trade and transit front. The successful implementation of transit and trade arrangements between the BBIN countries would send out a positive signal to other members to either sail together for their own benefits or sink separately. 

Kaushik is a research associate at the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, Kathmandu