How SAARC has fared since the summit?

It is heartening to note that the regional body has swung into action-oriented programmes in various areas in an effort to revitalise activities and the latest in the series was the decision by the tourism ministers of the member countries to connect each-other by direct air routes. Not all the seven nations of the SAARC have direct air connections with each other and often it takes long time via different routes to reach a member country. For instance, there is no Dhaka-Colombo direct flight and in most cases travelling is made through Bangkok, which takes quite a long time. Indeed, it is a good decision by the SAARC tourism ministers meeting recently in Bangladesh's sea-beach resort Cox's Bazar although it remains to be seen when the decision will finally be implemented. Direct air links are important for greater interactions in trade, commerce and other fields.

The conference adopted a 12-point declaration that includes relaxation of the existing visa processing system to encourage travelling within the SAARC region. Some countries like Nepal has easy system, but it is not the case with all the SAARC members. The decisions of cooperation in the tourism sector are far-reaching as the "Cox's Bazar Declaration", if implemented, will help develop tourism in South Asia, which is no less an attraction for the tourists on a global scale.

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The interior ministers of the SAARC countries also met in Dhaka earlier and discussed a variety of issues related to cooperation in the vital areas like law and order situation, combating terrorism and cross-border crimes. It was a high profile conference that was attended, among others, by Indian home minister Shivraj Patil and Pakistan home minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao. These were followed up by SAARC environment ministers meeting in the Bangladesh capital which took several decision for closer understanding in an area that is crucially important to the region ravaged by natural disasters and other problems. All these certainly underline growing activities in the regional forum. Member countries also met at the level of high officials in Kathmandu sometime ago to discuss some issues related to the SAFTA where progress was reported although certain matters still need to be sorted out.

It should not be concluded that all the meetings produced very good results and whatever decisions arrived at will necessarily be implemented within the timeframe agreed upon by the member states. Going by the past experiences, often such decisions are subjected to inordinate delay for implementation and at times left to cold storage. Nonetheless, when the member states meet with some specific purposes, there has to be some gains. The present activities of the SAARC, beginning close on the heels of the last summit in November, last year, definitely deserve praises. This appreciation is all the more befitting because the forum appears to have geared up multi-faceted activities that seek to bely the negative image that exist in many quarters. Many also feel that the SAARC often remains hostage to the political problems and rivalries in the region mainly between two key players of regional spectrum -- India and Pakistan. Fortunately, the overall ambience seems much better following the last summit and this trend of closer interactions needs to be kept up for the interest of the forum.

So far, the record of the SAARC during the first six months of the period following the last conference of their leaders seems to be fairly encouraging in the given condition since the forum also suffers from different constraints and limitations. Some more programmes are also in hand for the forum. Strengthening of the secretariat remains a priority area to make the organisation more effective. Little progress has been made in that direction. It is also necessary to quicken the implementation of SAFTA related decision. The people-to-people contact programmes have not made much headway as certain decisions taken in this direction are yet to see the light of the day. Definitely, it will be height of folly to expect early realisation of all the decisions, but the ball must be set rolling. The matters cannot be left to the backburner, which is often done in the SAARC.

However, this should be acknowledged that by and large, the forum is demonstrating greater interest and vigour to make it more vibrant and hopefully this trend will continue with more seriousness. None really expects anything spectacular from SAARC, but hopes modest gains and a friendly cooperative climate in South Asia. These are the avowed objectives of the forum and positive signs are happily discernible during the first half of the year since the summit. The forum is in dire need to deliver goods in its third decade since it is no longer a nascent organisation.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury is Foreign Editor of BSS.