Jahangir's World Times First Comprehensive Magazine for students/teachers of competitive exams and general readers as well.
The South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) has been formed for more than two decades.
It has in the recent past, in addition to expanding its membership, also taken the positive step of widening its engagement by allowing many countries into its fold as observers. This was undertaken as a constructive measure. It would be meaningful to compare Saarc with the measures undertaken by the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean). It include not only to evaluate the Saarc process but also to highlight the comparative seriousness with which Asean is engaging itself in regional cooperation as opposed to the efforts being undertaken by Saarc. This was necessary; given the modest areas of agreement reached by Saarc during its summit held in Colombo and its past history in being unable to implement its decisions.
Saarc and Asean have reaffirmed their common desire to ensure peace, stability, prosperity and social progress in the region, but Asean has gone one step ahead. They have recognised the need for creating a sense of belonging so critical for integration efforts.
Secondly, Asean has now taken the bold and pragmatic step of agreeing that its each member state will appoint a permanent representative at the level of ambassador in Jakarta, with effect from January 1, 2009. This decision has been taken to strengthen the Asean secretariat and to provide it with adequate resources. Such decisions connote seriousness in terms of engagement. Can we not start this within Saarc? Such a step on our part will then indicate that Saarc believes in being a practical and an action and result-oriented, rules-based organisation.
Thirdly, Asean, unlike Saarc, appears to have garnered sufficient political will to develop concrete programmes and activities to implement measures and enhance international and regional cooperation to combat trans-boundary environmental pollution. This they aim to achieve through capacity building, enhancing public awareness, strengthening law enforcement, promoting environmentally sustainable practices, as well as combating illegal logging and its associated illegal trade. They have also reaffirmed their commitment to intensify their cooperation with other international organisations in the areas of disaster relief and management. Comparably, very little appears to be taking place within Saarc. There are bilateral efforts but nothing of collective substance has emerged.
Fourthly, in accordance with its development agenda, Asean is attaching special importance to the integration of its education priorities. This is being done to hone the skills and talents of their citizens and to boost that region’s overall competitiveness, in order to reap the fruits of globalisation. We are talking of this within Saarc but nothing much has happened in concrete terms. The concept of the South Asian University with its different country based campuses is moving forward at a snail’s pace.
Fifthly, the question of strengthening Saarc’s relations with its external partners. Unlike Saarc, which is still plagued by the suspicious mindsets of its members. Asean has moved forward remarkably in this regard.
They have been able to do so because they are a more integrated community. They have reached a point where they can now look forward to the appointment of ambassadors to the Asean secretariat from their dialogue partners. This will enable them to deepen and broaden their cooperation in various fields with their partners. This will permit Asean to focus more seriously and meaningfully in key areas like energy and food security, terrorism and transnational crimes, poverty reduction, sustainable forest management and climate change, communicable diseases and disaster relief and response.
This functional approach has enabled Asean not only to push ahead with the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, the EU and India but also finalise measures towards the creation of strategic linkages that will bind different regions even closer together. Similarly, efforts are also underway within Asean to establish the Asean-China Centre and the Asean-Korea Centre to further deepen cooperation in all areas. Is Saarc thinking of such visionary agreements with its dialogue partners?
Sixthly, Asean appears to have taken a more pragmatic and realistic approach towards the crucial problems of food and energy security and achieving poverty reduction on the issue of food security, Asean has affirmed that access to adequate and reliable supply of staples, and stable prices are fundamental to the region’s economic and social well-being.
To address rising food prices, they have also stressed the importance of regional and international efforts to ensure the efficient functioning of market forces, as well as to coming up with longer term agricultural solutions. In this regard they have emphasised that all Asean countries should do away with price-distorting export subsidies and other protectionist policies and provide market access to competitive food exports.
