FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

SAARC Ministerial Meeting
For Enhancement Of Cooperation

By Shirish B. Pradhan

THE seven member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have during the Eleventh Summit held in Kathmancu earlier this year made commitments to make the regional grouping more cohesive, result-oriented and forward looking body. With these commitments in mind the recently concluded 23rd Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers felt the need for further accelerating the process of regional cooperation in the core areas of poverty alleviation, economic cooperation and social development. The two day ministerial meeting preceded by foreign secretary level and official level meetings reviewed the progress make while implementing the SAARC Declaration and decisions made by the SAARC Summit. The participating SAARC Foreign Ministers during the ministerial meet expressed satisfaction over the progress made by the SAARC in implementating the decisions taken by the last Summit. The SAARC foreign ministers during the 23rd Ministerial meeting renewed their commitment to carry forward the spirit of cooperation in South Asia by further accelerating the SAARC process.

Commitment

During the SAARC meetings all the decisions were taken unanimously and all the delegates reaffirmed their firm commitment in implementing these decisions. The growing Indo-Pak tension could in no way could block the regular process of the South Asian organisation. The delegates were careful not to caste shadow of the bilateral issues during the SAARC deliberations. Both Indian and Pakistani delegates sat together, shook hands, smiled and talked to each other during the SAARC meetings. In fact, SAARC provided an opportunity to the member countries to sit together and discuss any bilateral issue in the sidelines of the formal meetings. This way SAARC has been instrumental in easing regional tension and promoting bilateral cooperation. Cashing this opportunity Nepal held extensive bilateral discussions with officials from India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. During the bilateral discussions between Nepalese and Indian officials issues like combating Maoist terror, harnessing water resources, promoting bilateral trade and enhancing economic cooperation were figured.

The SAARC ministerial meetings drew serious attention of the member countries to the burning problem of terrorism, which is engulfing the entire region. Combating Terrorism and Preventing Girls Trafficking for Prostitution in South Asia were the two major areas, which got priority during the deliberations of the SAARC ministerial meetings. The SAARC Convention on combating terrorism was signed 15 years back in 1987 and many new developments have taken place in these years. So, the Council of Ministers meeting has felt the need to update the SAARC Convention on Suppression of Terrorism in the context of September 11 terrorist attack in New York and the recent regional developments. The meeting also felt the need to amend the SAARC Convention on Terrorism in line with the UNSC Resolution 1373 and the International Convention for Suppression of Financing of Terrorism. The meeting also recognized the need for early implementation of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution and on Regional Arrangements for the Promotion of Child Walfare in South Asia. South Asia is the centre of girls trafficking and hundreds of thousands of girls and women of this region have become victims of this trade.

Following the Kathmandu Summit in January this year SAARC has gained new momentum and regional cooperation has received due attention from all the member countries. "A fresh dynamism has been injected in the various activities of the SAARC since last Summit," remarked SAARC chairperson and Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba opening the 23rd Session of the Council of Ministers on August 21, 2002. The regional grouping of the seven South Asian countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, has been instrumental in presenting common positions on various international issues. "We have also evolved and presented common positions at major international conferences since January this year," observed Prime Minister Deuba. SAARC common positions have been maintained during the FAO regional meeting held in Kathmandu and the World Food Summit held in Rome, and the recently concluded World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johnnesberg. The long-term vision of the seven nation regional grouping is to form a South Asian Economic Union with a view to achieving economic prosperity and wellbeing of the 1.5 billion people of the region. For this purpose we have to further consolidate regional economic cooperation. To attain this we need to accelerate the negotiations on the fourth round of SAPTA and conclude the SAFTA treaty framework as soon as possible.

While we have made good progress in a number of areas, there is much to be desired in consolidating regional economic cooperation, Prime Minister Deuba has remarked. Nepal has been emphasizing on building effective institutional mechanism for SAARC and making the SAARC process more business like. There is a need to strengthen the implementation and institutional capability and to focus our activities on core areas of cooperation, observed Prime Minister Deuba.

The way SAARC ministers unanimously voiced concern for the need to build effective measures in combating terrorism is an important achievement of the meeting., In fact, most of the SAARC member countries are facing the menace of terrorism in its different manifestations. Nepal, India and Sri Lanka are equally suffering from the violence and terror unleashed by terrorists. The SAARC countries will again meet at ministerial and official levels later this year to enhance cooperation in fighting terrorism, the common enemy of humanity. Indian External Affairs Minister Mr. Sinha has also expressed satisfaction over the stand taken by SAARC on combating terrorism saying it was "worthwhile and satisfactory".

The SAARC meeting has also recommended to take vital steps towards social transformation in South Asia in favour of women, children, the downtrodden and the marginalised sections of the society. For this purpose the Council of Ministers meeting has given directives for the early implementation of the two conventions relating to child welfare and girl trafficking with necessary enabling legislation and an early conclusion of the prosed Social Charter. Another subject that drew attention of the member countries during the Ministerial Session was promoton of tourism. The participating delegates of the SAARC countries realised that each and every SAARC country has its unique tourism destination, which it can sell in the global market through joint efforts. All the member SAARC countries can be benefited if tourism is developed through regional cooperation. The SAARC delegates have proposed to convene the SAARC tourism officials meeting later this year to explore the tourism potentials of the South Asian nations.

The stand taken by SAARC on terrorism is vital in the context of growing violence and terror facing the peoples of this region. Nepal is suffering for the past six years from the menace of terrorism, which has left over 4,500 people dead. Terrorism has been the latest menace to the region and the world at large, Prime Minister Deuba has said adding its resurgence in new forms and viciousness in the region and beyond is indeed a matter of great concern to all of us. There is a need to make collective and coordinated efforts from all the SAARC member countries in order to control terrorism. Mr. Deuba has hoped that the SAARC Police Officers Meeting being held in Kathmandu will deal with some aspects of regional cooperation in the suppression of terrorism.

Fixed Date

One of the important decisions taken by the recent ministerial meeting is the decision to hold SAARC meetings in a fixed date every year. The next SAARC Summit will be held between January 5 and 20 in Islamabad and thereafter it will be held on a fixed date each year in January. The decision has cleared all the doubts regarding convening of the SAARC Summit, which sometimes faced uncertainties in the past due to various regions.

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