What is SAARC?

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is abbreviated as SAARC.
Headquarters: Kathmandu, Nepal. The SAARC was established with the signing of a charter adopted by SAARC members in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 8. The member states of SAARC members are eight in numbers Afghanistan 🇦🇫, Bangladesh 🇧🇩, Bhutan 🇧🇹, India 🇮🇳, Maldives 🇲🇻, Nepal 🇳🇵, Pakistan 🇵🇰 and Sri Lanka 🇱🇰.

All these countries lie in the Indian subcontinent. The first-ever meeting of SAARC called Summit was held in Dhaka on 7-8 December 1985.

Member States

Observer states

Objectives of SAARC

Committees In SAARC

There are numerous committees in which have different functions, they are formed by member nations
① Standing Committee
② Programming Committee
③ Action Committee
④ Technical Committee

Areas of Co-Operations

SAARC summits

18 SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2014, 19 SAARC summit was scheduled to host in Pakistan in Islamabad 2016, but In 2016 due to the Uri attack, India canceled participating in the start meeting in Pakistan because the attack was done with Pakistan’s.

Following India other members excluding Nepal canceled participation. Nepal remained the only nation that has not pulled out participation because Chairperson was from Nepal.

SAARC summit Host Nation Year

Summit	Host Nation	Year
First Summit	Bangladesh 🇧🇩	1985
Second Summit	India 🇮🇳	1986
Third Summit	Nepal 🇳🇵	1987
Fourth Summit	Pakistan 🇵🇰	1988
Fifth Summit	The Maldives 🇲🇻	1990
Sixth Summit	Sri Lanka 🇱🇰	1991
Seventh Summit	Bangladesh 🇧🇩	1993
Eight Summit	India 🇮🇳	1995
Ninth Summit	The Maldives 🇲🇻	1997
Tenth Summit	Sri Lanka 🇱🇰	1998
Eleventh Summit	Nepal 🇳🇵	2002
Twelfth Summit	Pakistan 🇵🇰	2004
Thirteenth Summit	Bangladesh 🇧🇩	2005
Fourteenth Summit	India 🇮🇳	2007
Fifteenth Summit	Sri Lanka 🇱🇰	2008
Sixteenth Summit	Bhutan 🇧🇹	2010
Seventeenth Summit	The Maldives 🇲🇻	2011
Eighteenth Summit	Nepal 🇳🇵	2014
Nineteenth Summit	Pakistan 🇵🇰	2016

SUMMITS IN INDIA

India has hosted SAARC summits three times in 1986,1995 and 2007.

SAARC current leaders

Members	President of State	Prime Minister of State
Afghanistan	Ashraf Ghani
Bangladesh	Abdul Hamid	Sheikh Hasina
Bhutan	King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck	Lotay Tshering
India	Ram Nath Kovind	Narendra Modi
Maldives	Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
Nepal	Bidhya Devi Bhandari	Sher Bahadur Deuba
Pakistan	Arif Alvi	Imran Khan
Sri Lanka	Gotabaya Rajapaksa	Mahinda Rajapaksa

Possible Future Members

China is keen to become a permanent member of SAARC, Myanmar has interested to be a
part of this group. Russia has applied for observer status. South Africa and Turkey to wants to be a part of this.

SAARC During COVID-19

In March 2020, India stood as a leader & Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the creation of a COVID-19 emergency fund on voluntary contributions from all the member states.

India making an initial offer of $10 million( US dollar). This fund was opened to all member nations for emergency use in controlling the virus.

SAARC satellite

GSAT-9, commonly known as the South Asia satellite, was launched on 5 May 2017. India initiated this for SAARC nations during the 18th Summit in Nepal, 2014, as a part of
the neighborhood first policy. Pakistan declined to participate due to security concerns.

Later it was changed to South Asia Satellite. Sri Lankan President said this technology will help in the upliftment of common people.

Challenges to SAARC nations

Refugees Crisis

South Asia has been witnessing migration problems over the decades. There are 3 million refugees in South Asia. Pakistan sees refugees from Afghanistan, India is home to diverse groups of refugees. India and Bangladesh have Rohingya refugees problems from Myanmar.

Conclusion and Way Forward

SAARC has been 35+ years in operation but due to terrorism, migration, and lack of trust has been a major problem of concern in the region. SAARC nations have a lot of potentials that need to tackle.

Afghanistan has been creating news due to the Taliban invading nearly 80% to 85% of the land area of Afghanistan after the United States of America announcing to withdraw its troops from 1 May 2021.

The Afghan Taliban wants to destabilize the Ashraf Ghani government and take over Kabul has been a major cause of concern for Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and neighboring countries. This will lead to regional instability and the goals of SAARC will be too far to achieve in the upcoming time.

USA and India have a long time strategic planning and interests in Afghanistan so both of them can make a big change in Afghanistan along with the Afghanistan Government. If the instability continues in Afghanistan then regional infrastructure projects and prosperity of the common citizens in Afghanistan will deteriorate.

However, Afghanistan Government is in talks with the Taliban in Doha. Taliban has always been the reason for instability in Afghanistan.

So as far as the future of SAARC nations is concerned, all of them need to resolve trust issues especially Pakistan needs to take action against the terrorist organizations living in Pakistan & operating from time to time for the instability on the Indian soil.

The 21st century is the century of Asia, but without the prosperity of South Asia, this statement can’t be fulfilled.

SAARC needs connectivity to Central Asia with India, Bhutan, Bangladesh & Nepal through Pakistan. This will lead to an increase in trade, commerce, and business across South Asia and connectivity to the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal to all nations including landlocked Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bhutan. However, this could only be achieved when stability and peace prevail in South Asia.

Official Website of SAARC is: https://www.saarc-sec.org/

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See Also – * New Education Policy 2020