“Since its inception the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to deliver on its promises.” What initiatives should be taken to reinvigorate the organization. (2018, 15 Marks)
SAARC (Dhaka, 1985) joined states sharing rivers, culture and one colonial economic space. Yet intra-regional trade is barely 5% of members’ total; the World Bank (A Glass Half Full, 2018) put actual regional trade near $23 billion against a potential of about $67 billion. No summit has met since Kathmandu (2014), after the Uri attack sank the 2016 Islamabad summit. The charge holds, with a qualification, and reform must target the causes.
How far it has failed
- The design locks itself: Article X requires unanimity at all levels and excludes “bilateral and contentious issues”. The India–Pakistan security dilemma therefore becomes a veto on unrelated business; in 2014 Pakistan alone blocked the motor vehicles and railway agreements.
- SAFTA (2006) cut tariffs, but sensitive lists, para-tariffs and absent transit left trade flat.
- The qualification: the SAARC Development Fund, the South Asian University, food and seed banks and conventions on terrorism and trafficking exist. The COVID-19 Emergency Fund (March 2020) showed that narrow functional cooperation (David Mitrany’s logic) survives political frost. Ernst B. Haas’s spill-over never happened: conflict spilled into cooperation instead.
Initiatives for reinvigoration
1. Institutional reform
- Shift non-political matters (budget, calendar, technical programmes) to a qualified majority, and let members opt out of a scheme without blocking it.
- Activate the Charter’s unused Article VII Action Committees, so willing members can proceed (variable geometry), as the BBIN motor vehicles agreement (2015) attempted.
- Give the Secretariat a power of initiative, and add a trade dispute-settlement mechanism.
2. Economic integration beyond tariffs
- Prune sensitive lists, bring para-tariffs into SAFTA, agree mutual recognition of standards and a regional transit agreement.
- Give SATIS working services schedules; widen visa exemptions for business and students.
3. Connectivity and energy
- Seamless road, rail, sea, air and telecom links.
- A regional power market on the 2014 Electricity Framework Agreement and Himalayan hydropower; basin-level water management with shared flood data.
4. A functional agenda on shared problems
- Climate, disasters, health surveillance, air pollution, labour migration to West Asia and trafficking are shared costs, not contested benefits.
5. Political preconditions
- India’s position is that revival needs credible action against cross-border terrorism. India must also outgrow the role S. D. Muni describes, “a reluctant participant and a hesitant leader” in SAARC. Confidence-building measures and Track II dialogue can prepare a summit that does not simply repeat 2014.
Current context
A Programming Committee meeting at Kathmandu (February 2026) kept the machinery alive. Bangladesh’s new government under Tarique Rahman has made revival a stated goal; the Maldives’ President Mohamed Muizzu offered to mediate (26 July 2026), and Bhutan nominated Dasho Sonam Topgay as the next Secretary-General (August 2026). India, unmoved since Pahalgam (April 2025), works through BIMSTEC and BBIN.
Conclusion
SAARC has under-delivered rather than collapsed, and its own Charter is the main cause. Revival will come through flexible, functional cooperation that works around the veto, alongside a political thaw. India, as the largest economy, must lead with asymmetric concessions, as its 25-line sensitive list for the least developed members already does.