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Some positive signs

The 14th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation underlined the big gap between performance and potential. However, positive signs did emerge at the end of the summit held in New Delhi on April 3-4. For one thing, as External Affairs Minister noted, this round of talks was the least contentious in the history of SAARC. All too often in the past, bilateral disputes between some member countries have come in the way of serious discussion of issues of regional cooperation and development. SAARC's collective leadership appears to have finally adopted the perspective that bilateral differences should be set aside as it uses the forum for exploring ways by which the lives of the peoples of the subcontinent can be improved. In this context, the agreements to set up a South Asian university and to form a subcontinental food bank mark a break with the past. The member states were also able to arrive at a consensus on the methodologies that the SAARC Development Fund should adopt in taking and implementing decisions. While countries or institutions outside South Asia will be able to contribute to the Fund, they will have no say in its decisions. For the first time, SAARC set a time frame for achieving tangible progress in identified fields where joint efforts can produce benefit for more than one country. The organisation intends to work with international agencies to develop and implement viable cross-border projects in respect of water resources, energy, food, and the environment.

The positive trends in bilateral relations between member states might induce optimism that SAARC will try and ensure that its efforts match its ambitions. However, realism would suggest that improvements in the organisation's performance are likely to be incremental rather than dynamic. The seven member states that formed the group before the 14th summit could hardly be said to have effectively cooperated in the fight against terrorism, though they had made a commitment to do so as far back as 1987. As an update to the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism signed that year, the organisation adopted in 2004 an Additional Protocol. Yet the basic modalities for cooperation on this issue are still in the works. The inclusion of Afghanistan, with its externalities and its tensions with Pakistan, in the group has introduced a new order of political challenge. India's initiative for the drafting of a SAARC convention on mutual assistance in legal matters, which must surely include extradition clauses, has much to recommend it. But there is a long way to go and many hurdles to be cleared before such an arrangement can become a reality.

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