The two-day SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit, concluded in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on 3 August, adopted the Colombo Declaration and signed four agreements on regional cooperation.

At the summit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handed over the SAARC chair to Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, the host country. The Summit welcomed leaders of the eight member nations as well as observers from seven countries including the EU, South Korea, US, Japan, China, Iran, and Mauritius. The summit also welcomed Australia and Myanmar as new observers. The 16th SAARC Summit will take place in the Maldivian capital Male next year.

Colombo Declaration

The 15th SAARC Summit approved an eight-page Colombo Declaration titled “Partnership for Growth for Our People”. “The heads of state or government reaffirmed their commitment to the principles and objectives in the SAARC Charter,” said the Colombo Declaration. “They renewed their resolve for collective regional efforts to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development.”

The Colombo Declaration said SAARC has been making steady and incremental progress over the years towards realizing the objectives of the SAARC Charter.

Grand Summit

The two-day SAARC Summit was rich with the attendance of top leaders from all eight member countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a population of about 1.5 billion. The Summit deliberated on issues like poverty alleviation, food security, energy crisis, terrorism and climate change.

The summit had representatives from China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Republic of Korea and the United States participating as observers.

Four Agreements

The SAARC leaders recognized that terrorism has become a great menace and condemned all forms of terrorist violence and emphasized that the SAARC member states should cooperate through the exchange of information on terrorism and organized crime.

Heads of state or government of 8 SAARC countries agreed on four agreements on the establishment of a SAARC Development Fund, the creation of a South Asia Standards Institution, the accession of Afghanistan to the South Asian Free Trade Agreement and Mutual assistance in criminal matters, which were signed by the SAARC member countries’ foreign ministers in the closing session.

Stand Against Terror

Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who addressed the summit, said, “We cannot afford to lose the battle against the ideologies of hatred, fanaticism and against all those who seek to destroy our social fabric. We can go a long way if we cooperate, with one country’s strength complementing the other’s weakness,” he added.

For economic progress, the Indian Prime Minister pointed out that the full implementation of the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) was important. “We tried our best to lower the items in our sensitive list and we have implemented zero percent duty regime from the least developed countries of the region,” he noted.

Pro-Poor Tilt

Making his vision of SAARC clear, Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa told the delegates, “The time has come for SAARC nations to implement more pro-poor strategies. For growth to become sustainable, its benefits must be evenly distributed, pro-poor strategies must be put in place, and the rural populations that make up the vast majority in all our countries must be empowered, ensuring gender equality”.

“We need to look at realistic policies on nutrition, at strategies for development that are least dependent on the forces of speculation, and markets that have no feel for the people,” he added.

The Colombo Statement on Food Security affirmed a resolve to ensure region-wide food security and make South Asia the granary of the world once again. Leaders of the South Asian nations directed that the SAARC Food Bank be urgently operationalized and emphasized the drawing up of the SAARC Agriculture Perspective 2020.

Legacy

Established in 1985, SAARC included 7 nations namely Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Afghanistan was added to the group in 2007. The group was established to encourage economic development and mutual cooperation in the South Asian region. The Colombo Summit has reiterated that agenda yet again.