Indian Foreign Affairs Journal Vol. 9, No. 4 (October - December 2014) DEBATE Regional Cooperation in South Asia The Present and the Future (Working Title) On 8 December 1985, leaders of 7 South Asian Countries came together to launch the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, SAARC. In the preamble to the Charter itself, signed that day, they expressed their conviction that regional cooperation among the countries of South Asia is mutually beneficial, desirable and necessary. There was also a hope that these efforts at regional cooperation would eventually lead to meaningful regional integration - not withstanding some inherent problems in achieving the same. While regional integration elsewhere, like in Europe, Latin America, South East Asia have been moving rapidly, three decades later, efforts at regional integration in South Asia has been lack-lustre. Conscious of the fact that bilateral issues could tend to cloud joint decisions, it was specifically provided, in the charter, that decisions at all levels shall be taken on the basis of unanimity and that bilateral and contentious issues shall be excluded from the deliberations. In spite of such a stipulation, one of the main reasons for the slow progress has been the shadow of such bilateral issues at each juncture. What needs to be done to make SAARC workable? What lessons can one draw from the working of this grouping in the past 3 decades? Is sub-regional groups, existing or new ones, the answer? The comments of the following eminent policy analysts and scholars will form the Debate Section of the present edition of the Journal. SHEEL KANT SHARMA: Former Ambassador of India to Austria, Former Secretary General, SAARC T. P. SREENIVASAN: Former Ambassador to Austria, to Fiji, and, High Commissioner of India to Kenya. Presently the Director General of the Kerala International Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. KANWAL SIBAL: Former Foreign Secretary of India, former Ambassador to Russia and to France. JAYANT PRASAD: Former Ambassador of India to Nepal, to Afghanistan and to Algeria; former Permanent Representative of India to Conference on Disarmament, Geneva Geneva. YOGENDRA KUMAR: Former Ambassador of India to Tajikistan and to the Philippines. Former High Commissioner of India in Namibia. RAJIV BHATIA: Former Ambassador of India to Myanmar and to Mexico, High Commissioner of India to South Africa and to Kenya. Presently the Director General of Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. SABITA HARICHANDAN: Associate Professor of Political Science, BJB Autonomous College, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. AMITA BATRA: Professor, Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. associationdiplomats.org/Publications/ifaj/Vol9/vol9index.htm#9.3
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 03:33:47 +0000
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