SOUTH ASIA: Summit Ends With More Pledges Of Cooperation

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Jul 31 1998 (IPS) - The tenth summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ended in the Sri Lankan capital on Friday with regional leaders agreeing to speed up the process of regional economic cooperation.

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the new chairwoman of the seven-member regional grouping said that contrary to “gloom and doom” prophesies about the summit, much that the summit set out to do was achieved.

“What we have been able to achieve in the last two days … in a most amicable, friendly and warm atmosphere proves beyond any doubt that the commonalties between us in South Asia do outweigh all differences …,” she said in her closing address.

The 3-day meeting was attended by leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and was the first occasion for talks between the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers after each country conducted nuclear tests in May.

The bilaterals on the sidelines between Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not yield anything substantial except an agreement to resume talks at foreign secretaries’ level at which issues of mutual concern would be discussed.

The Pakistani prime minister’s proposal that the SAARC charter be amended to permit bilateral issues on the agenda and the formation of a “regional peace council” were not accepted by the meeting.

At the SAARC summit in Colombo, politics was set to take precedence over other issues but both Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s firm opposition to changing the character of SAARC, and the lack of support from others ensured that Sharif’s proposal was shot down, conference sources said.

Over two days, the first in Colombo and the second day in retreat at Bentota, a resort town on the sea south of the Sri Lankan capital, the leaders discussed cross-border problems like poverty, the miserable status of women and children, rampant drug trafficking and prostitution, also health and education issues.

With economic cooperation being the main concern of the meeting, the conference discussed the transition from a SAPTA (South Asian Preferential Tariffs Arrangement) regime to a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).

The leaders agreed that a SAFTA treaty incorporating the regulatory framework should be ready by 2001, which has been rejected as unworkable by the Eminent Persons Report commissioned by SAARC. The report said the agreement would more likely be completed by 2008.

It was also decided to strengthen ties with regional economic groups like the Economic Community and ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).

The most encouraging sign at the Colombo summit was the acceptance of the private business community. The SAARC chamber of commerce was, for the first time, permitted to make a presentation at the foreign ministers-level meeting.

“This is a very encouraging sign and augurs well for the future. The focus on economic development is not complete if you forget the business community,” noted Patrick Amarasinghe, president of Sri Lanka’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

He said it was unfortunate that most of the country delegations failed to include representatives from the private sector. “If you want to alleviate poverty, income levels must be improved. And for income levels to be improved, the private sector must play a key role. The absence of the private sector is like playing Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark,” he said.

Amarasinghe said that with SAARC recognising the chambers, the next step would be for the inclusion of members of the business community in country delegations at the next summit.

He said some of the key issues raised in “a road map for South Asia” presented by the SAARC chamber including winning backing of all members to the concept of a trade bloc and the speedier dismantling of tariff barriers.

But Amarasinghe expressed doubts as to whether SAARC would progress the way its leaders expect it to do so because of unending bureaucratic delays.

Since 1985, South Asian leaders have been meeting nearly every year to decide on strategies to take the region out of poverty and liberalise trade between member states but the bold decisions have rarely been enforced.

The region remains one of the poorest in the world, with some

400 million people living in poverty.

Bradman Weerakoon, a distinguished retired Sri Lankan civil servant and former secretary general of the London-based International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), says poverty problems remain a big concern, and the only progress in regional cooperation has been in economic areas.

“Trade means business and business means money. Wherever money and business is involved there is some action,” he said.