SAARC, an important milestone for Lanka

The 2008 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Heads of State Summit will begin on July 28 at the BMICH. It is not only an important milestone for Sri Lanka as the host nation but also to all member states in the South Asian region.

The SAARC is an economic and political organisation of eight countries in this region. In terms of population, its sphere of influence is the largest of any regional organisation - over 1.7 billion people, the combined population of its member states.

The SAARC was set up on December 8, 1985 by seven countries in the South Asian region - Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan. At the 14th SAARC Summit in April last year, Afghanistan became its eighth member.

It was the then Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman who proposed the creation of a trade bloc consisting of South Asian countries in the late 70s. The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was again mooted in May 1980 but it took seven more years to finally form the SAARC Movement.

The Foreign Secretaries of the seven countries in the South Asian region met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981. The Committee which met in Sri Lanka in August 1981, identified five broad areas for regional cooperation. Subsequently, new areas of cooperation were added.

Amongst the objectives defined in the SAARC Charter are: to promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their quality of life, to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realise their full potential, to promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia, to contribute to mutual trust, understand and appreciation of one another’s problem, to promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technical and scientific fields, to strengthen cooperation with other developing countries, to strengthen cooperation among themselves in international fora on matters of common interest and to cooperate with international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes.

In the Indian capital of New Delhi in 1983, the Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation was adopted by the Foreign Ministers of the seven countries. The Ministers also launched the Integrated Program of Action (IPA) in nine agreed areas - agriculture, rural development, telecommunications, meteorology, health and population activities, transport, postal services, science and technology and sports, arts and culture.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was finally set up when its Charter was formally adopted on December 8, 1985 by the Heads of the seven States. The 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo comes at an important juncture as all countries in the region are faced with many global challenges, including the soaring world oil pries and terrorism.

There is no doubt that the leaders of the eight SAARC nations would make every effort to make the Colombo Summit a fruitful one and find solutions to overcome various problems in the region. The forthcoming SAARC Summit will be of immense benefit to all countries in the region, especially to Sri Lanka which holds and enjoys extremely good bilateral relations with all SAARC countries.

Despite the baseless and low-level criticism from certain quarters here with vested interests, the proposed SAARC Summit will pave the way for the SAARC countries to discuss at length and arrive at a consensus and understanding on diverse issues of mutual interest.

The agreements to be inked at the Summit between the SAARC countries in the region which covers a vast zone in business, security and other key issues of the world, will be of tremendous benefit and significance, especially for a tiny island nation such as Sri Lanka.

With an Opposition which is making every effort to regain power at any cost, the characteristic criticism which comes from certain groups here was anticipated and is inevitable. We must not forget the fact that any country needs to maintain socio-economic links with friendly countries. Sri Lanka is making every effort to make more friends and extend its solidarity to all countries.

The various ploys adopted by the Opposition to paint a gloomy picture have been flatly rejected by the intelligent masses. In 1976 too, when the Non-Aligned Summit was to be held in Colombo, the same criticism and flak was hurled at the then Government by the same parties, despite the fact that Sri Lanka reaped immense benefits by hosting it.

Due to the Government’s efforts to eliminate terrorism, the Security Forces are compelled to take additional steps to strengthen security in Colombo for the forthcoming Summit. A little inconvenience may be caused to the people, but it will be limited only to two days. In contrast, the country would win a greater volume of support from the countries in the region.

Despite many unsuccessful efforts by the UNP and the TNA, Sri Lanka was receiving unprecedented international aid from all corners of the globe due to the popularity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. To further strengthen our international relations, Summits of this nature could play greater roles.

The Colombo SAARC Summit could be used as an effective platform to discuss various important issues and find solutions. We need to urgently link our countries to an effective regional and global early warning system for earthquakes and tsunami.

Above all, terrorism has been a threat not only to South Asia but also to the world. Sri Lanka has been taking effective steps to eradicate terrorism and needs global support in its exemplary role.