A significant departure from the history of the 23-year- old SAARC is the statement that the 15th Summit will direct SAARC to move from the declaratory phase to the implementation phase and SAARC should therefore focus on project-based cooperation.

This is according to some of the conference documents that have come into our hands and we are by no means certain that this movement which has been doggedly following the beaten track of repeating sterile declarations would take a new direction.

However, Prof. G.L Peiris has been quoted declaring this shift in direction with regard to SAFTA and Additional Foreign Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam too has been quoted speaking of progression from the declaratory stage to implementation stage.

At the press conference held at the Hilton on Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi too spoke of the transition from the declaratory stage to the implementation stage and the need to focus on project based co-operation.

Talk shop

If after 23 years the folly of producing proposals which even those making the proposals had no notion of how they were to be implemented has been realised it would indeed be a radical departure that could hold great promise. The tomes of proposals made by member countries, the declarations of various summits and plans of action now gathering dust in the archives of foreign ministries of member states and very little positive outcome of these labours is indicative that SAARC constituted nothing more than a Third World talk shop.

It is considered bad form to laugh at our country’s efforts to improve the lot of the people and that of our neighbouring countries but from the very inception of this movement we have been pointing out that SAARC is nothing but NATO — No Action Talk Only.

The basic objectives were indisputably laudable —economic cooperation in seven identified areas. And the SAARC Charter had provisos to ensure its continuity such as keeping out contentious issues in deliberations as well as non-interference in the internal affairs of member states. But soon after its formation SAARC went off its tracks.

The giant and the six dwarfs

An in-built flaw was its asymmetry — India the giant in the centre with the six dwarfs around it. The Gandhis — Indira and Rajiv — had the inclination to impose Indian hegemony on its neighbours. Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and of course Pakistan were already locking horns with New Delhi before SAARC was born. And at one stage SAARC was paralysed with summits being called off because of disputes one member state or another had with India.

India’s relations with its neighbours have improved considerably over the years but occasionally there are flares such as the one right now between India and Pakistan over alleged acts of terrorism by Pakistan. But the intensity of rhetoric is much less now than in the ’80s and ’90s and at least the words are now under control.

India will always hold the key to the success or failure of SAARC and whatever can be achieved has to be with the cooperation of the giant which is now an emerging world power.

Project implementation

Concentration on project implementation does indeed hold great promise because success or failure can be measured in concrete terms. For example operation of a SAARC Food Bank does seem a possibility in this region where all member states are basically agriculture oriented.

Each member state can be tasked with achieving a specific objective and every state should be engaged in increasing food production on the fields – not on pro government, radio, TV and newspapers.

A ‘Colombo Statement on Food Security’ is expected to be issued at the end of the current summit. Its contents, whether it will be sterile rhetoric as usual or pragmatic and practical plans of action will indicate whether a new direction is being taken.

A SAARC Development Fund was established on paper as far back as in 1996 and a sum of $US 300 million has been recommended but not yet been granted. This is a classic example of South Asian pipe dreams not coming true.

Another feature that has not been focused on is whether SAARC has far too much on its plate and which it clearly cannot cope with.

Climate change, energy and food crises, poverty alleviation, environmental protection, smooth flow of goods and services, transfer of technology and a whole gamut of varied subjects are now piled on the SAARC plate. This variety of subjects will be too great for even the UN to handle.

Time is also being wasted on efforts in self delusion such as SAARC efforts in cracking down on terrorism while member states accuse one another of promoting cross- border terrorism!

If the 15th Summit can lead the movement in a new direction to ease the suffering of the billions of South Asians, it would indeed be a historic event.