SAARC(South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation)
Aim Behind Creation Of SAARC
• A platform
• Process of economic and social development in member state.
Salient Features
SAARC has following salient features: • most ancient living civilization• sleeping giant• all religions, faiths, and ideologies• a common market called sapta and later safta. • largest irrigated land areas - 67 million hectares.• second largest railway network • largest english speaking areas
History of SAARC
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and political organization of eight countries in
Southern Asia. In terms of population, its sphere of influence is the largest of any regional organization: almost 1.5 billion people, the
combined population of its member states. In the late 1970s, Bangladesh 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.Afghanistan was added to the regional grouping at the behest of India
on November 13, 2005, With the addition of Afghanistan, the total number of member states were raised to eight (8).
Basic Information About SAARC
Head quarters Khatmandu,Nepal
Membership 8 members,9 observers
Chairman Mahinda rajapaksa
Secretary general Sheel kanth sharma
Established Dec 8,1985
Total Area 5130,746 kmsquare
GDP US $ 4,074,031 MILLION
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Current members
• Afghanistan • Bangladesh • Bhutan • India • Maldives • Nepal • Pakistan• Sri Lanka
Observers
• Australia• China • European Union• Iran• Japan • Mauritiu • Myanmar (Burmas) • South Korea • United States
The SAARC Secretariat:
• Established in Kathmandu on 16 January 1987.
• To coordinate and monitor the implementation of SAARC activities.
• The Secretariat comprises:
-Secretary General,
-Seven Directors and
-The General Services Staff
1996 1999 2000
Population 1.3 bn 1.3bn 1.4bn
Population Growth Annual % 1.9% 1.9%
Life Expectancy 62.6
GNI Per Capita ($) 410 440 460
GDP (Current $) 513.7 bn 581 bn 620.3 bn
GDP Growth 6.4 5.8
Export of Goods and Services% of GDP
12.4 13.4 13.1
Import of Goods and Services
17.2 16.9 17.0
SAARC Statistics
Area 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 and • Transport.
Establishment of high level Working Groups in areas:
Information and Communications Technology
Biotechnology Intellectual Property Rights Tourism
• Energy
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Saarc members Imports (in thousands of $)
Exports (in thousands of $)
Per capita income (in dollars)per person
Pakistan $39.96 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
$19.22 billion (2009 est.)
2000
Srilanka $9.6 billion (2009 est.) $7 billion (2009 est.) 2500
Bhutan $320 million c.i.f. (2006)
$350 million f.o.b. (2006)
1000
Bangladesh $20.205 billion (2008) $18.36 billion (2009-2010)
1380
India $232.3 billion f.o.b (2009 est.)
$155 billion f.o.b (2009 est.)
1720
Maldives $567 million f.o.b. (2004)
$123 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Afghanistan $8.550 billion (2009) $2.128 billion (2009) 800
Nepal $3.229 billion f.o.b. (2008)
$868 million f.o.b 1100
SAARC Members, Their Per Year Imports, Exports And Per Capita
Income
SAARC Decades
1991-2000 SAARC Decade of the Girl Child
2001-2010 SAARC Decade of the Rights of the Child
SAARC summits
• 15 summits have been held
• 16th summit is scheduled to hold in Bhutan 2010.
SAARC AS ECONOMIC BLOCK
• Largest economic block
• To promote welfare
• Accelerate economic growth
• To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance
SAARC ACHIEVEMENTS
• Impressive growth rate above 7% in last two decades
• Achieving objectives by promoting and improving quality life through accelerated economic growth
• Creation of food bank having reserves of 241000 tons of rice and wheat
• Anti terrorism police force setup in Pakistan
Cont.
• Ideas to increase in litracy rate
• Improve the health of people
• Friendly relation with neighbouring countries
• Eliminate terrifs among the member estates
• Efforts to reduce poverty
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Designated SAARC Years1989 SAARC Year of Combating Drug Abuse & Drug Trafficking
1990 SAARC Year of Girl Child
1991 SAARC Year of Shelter
1992 SAARC Year of Environment
1993 SAARC Year of Disabled Persons
1994 SAARC Year of the Youth
1995 SAARC Year of Poverty Eradication
1996 SAARC Year of Literacy
1997 SAARC Year of Participatory Governance
1999 SAARC Year of Biodiversity
02-03 SAARC Year of Contribution of Youth to Environment
2004 SAARC Awareness Year for TB and HIV/AIDS
2006 South Asia Tourism Year
SAARC Lacking And Fault Lines
SAARC Lacking
• Lack of Political will
• Ineffectiveness of SAARC headquarters
• Cost of doing business in the region is very high.
• The productivity per worker is low
Saarc represents only
23 percent of the world population
Share only 2.5 percent of world gross
national income (1,339 billion US$).
Its Average per capita income at US$
880 is only 11 percent of the world average of US$ 7,995.
Saarc represents only
• Total external trade of the region amounts 1.6 percent of the world trade
• 1.4 percent of the world exports • 1.8 percent of world imports.
• Its Intra-regional exchanges represent only 4 percent regional trade - 5.3 percent (exports) and 4.8 percent (imports
SAARC Fault Lines
SAARC countries as a bloc remained least integrated with the world and deprived themselves from the global changes
Lack of technological knowledge and skill-base to become competitive in the global market.
Conservative nature Lack of ownership of SAARC at the official
level
Why SAARC Has Been a Disappointment
Social indicators Political factors
Economic factors
Social indicators
PovertyEducation
natural disastersIndia’s workforce size
Political factors
India and Pakistan systemic differences
military conflict
Economic factors
Ineffective tradeGDP imbalancetrade imbalance
Demographics and Social Indicators
• Although real wages are growing, poverty still remains problem, because it impedes commercial stability nationally and within the trade bloc.
• Wages are low among SAARC countries.
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How to Make SAARC Work
• social tool to solve regional disputes social tool to solve regional disputes
• Establishment of political stability Establishment of political stability
• substitute of good productionsubstitute of good production
• ways to offset India’s large size ways to offset India’s large size
• Mediating roleMediating role
• Lofty goalsLofty goals
• Increment in FDIIncrement in FDI
How to Make SAARC Work (Cont.)
• Reducing inequality gaps Reducing inequality gaps
• Using SAFTA for regional Using SAFTA for regional agreementsagreements
• Improving infrastructure Improving infrastructure
• Natural disaster aid efforts Natural disaster aid efforts
• Diversification of export goods Diversification of export goods
Comparison Of SAARC With Other Economic Blocks
• Modest Modest
• Diversified Diversified
• Largest geo-economic block Largest geo-economic block
• Amalgamation of states Amalgamation of states
Impact Of SAARC On Pakistan’s Economy
Conclusion