The Hindu : National : SAARC to discuss tsunami warning system

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 27, 2005

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SAARC to discuss tsunami warning system

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, JAN. 26. At the request of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) heads of government will discuss the possibility of putting in place a tsunami early warning centre at their February 6-7 summit in Dhaka.

Officials familiar with SAARC affairs said that both Sri Lanka and Pakistan had advocated putting the issue on the agenda given the devastating affects of the tsunami on at least three South Asian nations. The summit had to be postponed in the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami.

They pointed out that India, which possessed considerable scientific capabilities, had already announced that it would set up its own warning system. There was every possibility that the leaders would examine how this system could provide information to other SAARC nations as well.

Double taxation

Apart from the tsunami, the SAARC leaders are all set to sign at least two agreements — one on mutual administrative assistance in customs matters and the other on avoidance of double taxation.

Two other agreements — on bilateral investment protection and the establishment of an arbitration council for trade-related issues — have been put on hold. These two agreements were also due to be signed, but some procedural delays have held them up.

The officials, however, were hopeful that the procedural wrangles would be sorted out soon. They stressed that discussions to implement the South Asian Free Trade Area, scheduled to commence on January 1, 2006, were also on track.

However, not much has happened after India proposed a $100 million poverty alleviation fund for SAARC countries at the last summit meeting in January 2004 in Islamabad. India had made it clear that this money was to be used in projects outside India. "Once we have agreed on the modalities of the creation of such a fund and its charter, India would be willing to make an initial contribution of $100 million on the understanding that this money would be used entirely on projects within SAARC, but outside India," the then Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, said on January 4, 2004 in Islamabad.

In July 2004, Foreign Ministers looked at a concept paper on the establishment of the fund. However, very little movement has been made on actually setting up the fund.

Development fund

Bangladesh has, since, proposed a development fund for South Asia, while Pakistan suggested that this amount be raised to $300 million, with each SAARC country making contributions as per its share of the combined South Asian gross domestic product (GDP).

If this logic is applied, then India would end up providing about 77 per cent of the total fund proposed by Pakistan. However, under the current formula adopted to run the SAARC Secretariat, India provides 32.1 per cent of the total funding, with Pakistan chipping in about 20 per cent.

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