Hopeful Signs

Thirteenth SAARC summit concludes with a proposal of adding new member and two observers

By KESHAB POUDEL

Although it was postponed twice under different reasons, the thirteenth SAARC Summit concluded with certain positive development. The Summit agreed to accept Afghanistan as eighth member state and to grant People’s Republic of China and Japan observer status.

king Gyanendra (right) and Singh : Crucial talk

Despite different interests and divergences over many issues, SAARC leaders agreed to expand trade and economic relations among them pushing SAFTA as a vehicle for the new trade regime.

All south Asian countries are facing one or other kinds of natural disasters as Tsunami virtually destroyed parts of Sri Lanka a year ago and recent quake devastated Pakistan. Annual floods cause major problems for Bangladesh, India and Nepal. The opening of regional disaster management center in New Delhi is one of the major achievements of the Summit.

With more than 1 billion population with half of them below the poverty line, SAARC countries are facing major challenge for poverty reduction. The leaders also expressed their solidarity to fight against poverty. As all South Asian countries are facing one or other kinds of terrorism, their declaration against terrorism also was the major highlight of the summit.

King Gyanendra used the summit to explain Nepal’s ongoing political situation and his actions to South Asian leaders. Determined and strong, King Gyanendra clearly put his points in the summit about the need to revive the democratic process. Despite lacking powerful instrument of popularly elected representatives, King Gyanendra delivered a very strong statement urging the South Asian community to support his quest to contain the terrorism and bring the normalcy and multi-party democracy in Nepal.

In his 60 minute one-on-one meeting with Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, King Gyanendra also expressed his commitment to resume the multi-party democracy in earlier possible time. Before this meeting, Nepalese foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey held a long meeting with India’s National Defense Council adviser MK Narayanan.

King Gyanendra is clear in one agenda that the political solution must be based on win-win situation for all political forces and there is no question to hand over power in a political humiliation.

Nepalese and Indian sides expressed the satisfaction over the meeting between King Gyanendra and Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The meeting (between the King and the Indian primer) was held in a friendly and environment,” said Nepalese foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey (The Himalayan Times).

Indian officials also said the King assured the Indian primer that he is committed to the task and will involve the political parties in the process to restore democracy as soon as possible. “The Indian prime minister underlined to the King the importance of restoring multi-party democracy in Nepal as early as possible and need to take concrete steps in this regard,” said Navtej Sarna, a spokesman at the Indian External Affairs Ministry.

Avoiding pressures, King Gyanendra has shown that there is graceful way to find out the solution of political crisis in Nepal. “We know that there cannot be meaningful exercise in a democracy without elections. We have asked the Election Commission to make necessary preparations to hold general elections by April 2007,” said King Gyanendra addressing the SARRC summit.

The meeting between Nepalese foreign minister Pandey and Indian National Defense Council adviser Narayanan is said to have laid the ground for one-hour one-on-one meeting between the King and Indian PM.

In an interesting move, Nepalese foreign minister Ramesh Nath Pandey stunned the Summit and showed the independent stand on foreign policy by proposing observer status for People’s Republic of China, which was accepted along with agreement to provide membership to Afghanistan.