SAARC is an economic and political organization established in 1985 by 8 South Asian countries. Its objectives are to accelerate economic growth and social progress in member states. SAARC has an organizational structure including a Council of heads of government, Council of Ministers, and various committees. It aims to promote cooperation in areas like agriculture, education, and transportation. While SAARC has had some successes, full economic integration has faced challenges and its potential remains largely untapped.

1. South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation
Presenters are:-
1. Pisa Tatin 2. Bornali Borah 3. Renu Gangwar 4.Taba Joshi

2. INTRODUCTION
• SAARC is an economic and political organization.
• SAARC was established on December 8, 1985.
• Formed by 8 Countries
• The SAARC Secretariat was established in
Kathmandu on 16 January 1987.
• 11 Stated areas- agriculture, education, culture,
sports, health, population, child welfare,
environment, rural development, tourism,
transport, Science Technology and
communication.

4. – Abul Ahsan (Bangladesh) January 16, 1987 to 15 October 1989
– Kant K Bhargava (India) October17,1989 to December 31,1991
– Ibrahim Hussain Zaki (Maldives) January 1, 1992 toDecember31,1993
– Yadav Kant Silwal (Nepal) January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1995
– Naeem U. Hasan (Pakistan) January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1998
– Nihal Rodrigo (Sri Lanka) January 1, 1999 to January 10, 2002
– Q.A.M.A. Rahim (Bhutan) January 11, 2002 to February 28, 2005
– Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji (Sri Lanka) March 1, 2005 to February 29,
2008
– Sheel Kant Sharma (India) March 1, 2008 to present
– Fathimath Saeed (Maldives) 1 March 2011 – 11 March 2012
– Ahmed saleem (Maldives) 12 March 2012 — 28 February 2014
– Arjun Bahadur Thapa (Nepal) 1 March 2014 — present

6. OBSERVERS

7. Cont.…
• In terms of population - almost 1.5 billion people.
• It aims to accelerate the process of economic and
social development in Member States.
• SAARC provides a platform for the peoples of
South Asia to work together in the spirit
understanding.
• In April 2007, at the Association's 14th summit,
Afghanistan became its eighth member.

8. EVOLUTION
• In the late 1970s, Bangladesh President Ziaur
Rahman proposed.
• President Rahman addressed letters to the
Heads of Government of the countries of
South Asia.
• The foreign secretaries of the seven countries
met for the first time in Colombo in April
1981.

9. Cont…
• A series of meetings followed in Nepal
(Katmandu/November 1981), Pakistan
(Islamabad/August, 1982), Bangladesh India
(Delhi/July 1983) to enhance regional cooperation.
• In 1983 Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi.

10. • SAARC foreign ministers signed agreements on
charter of the US $ 307 million SAARC
Development Fund, the South Asian Regional
Standards Organization, Convention on Mutual
Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters (including
terrorism)
• First SAARC Summit held on 7-8 December in
1985 in Dhaka where the Heads of State or
Government of seven countries adopted to
established SAARC.

11. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
OF SAARC

12. COUNCIL
• At the top, there is the council
represented by the heads of the
government of member countries

13. COUNCIL OF MINISTER
• It is to assist the council. It is represented by foreign minister of
member countries. It functions included:
• Formulation of policies
• Review of functioning
• Deciding new area of cooperation
• Chalk out additional functioning
• Decide out general issues of common interest of the SAARC
members

14. STANDING COMMITIE
It is comprised by the foreign secretarian of the member
government. Its major function are:-
• To monitor and co-ordinate the programmes.
• To determine inter-sectored priorities.
• To mobilize cooperation within and outside the region.
• To deals with the modalities of financing.

15. PROGRAMMING COMMITIE
It consist senior official of the member government. It
function include:-
• Scrutinizing the budget of the secretariat.
• Finalizing the annual schedule.
• External activities assigned by standing committee.
• Analyses the respects of technical committee.
.

16. TECHNICAL COMMITEE
It consisted of represented of member nation. Its functions
are:-
• To formulate project and programmes.
• To monitor and execute the projects.
• To submit reports.
• Cover areas like agriculture, communication, environment,
rural development, science & technology, tourism &
transportation

17. SECRETARIAT
The SAARC secretariat is located in Nepal. The secretariat
is head by secretary-general appointed by council of
minister. Its function include:-
• Coordination, execution and monitoring of SAARC
activities
• Servicing the SAARC meetings
• Work as communication between SAARC and other
international forum.

18. OBJECTIVES OF SAARC
• To promote the welfare of the peoples of
South Asia & to improve their quality of life.
• To accelerate the economic growth, social
progress, and cultural development in the
region.
• Contribute mutual trust and understanding.
• Cooperate on issue like water resuources.
• Strengthen cooperation among themselves &
other developing countries.

19. Reason for formation of SAARC
• South Asia is the poorest, most illiterate, the
most malnourished, least gender sensitive and
the most deprived region of the world. It
contains about 22% of the world’s total
population.
• Almost all the countries of this region are
facing similar problems like poverty, illiteracy,
unemployment, disease, low productivity and
dependence on agricultural sector.

20. • Thus the socio-economic condition of this
region as a whole is in a great devastation.
• In order to deal with all such challenges it was
in 1985 that the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was formed.
• The ultimate aim behind the formation of this
regional grouping was to strengthen the
relationship on social, cultural, economic and
scientific fronts among the seven member
countries and thus to form a new way for
peace, progress and prosperity in the region.

21. First summit
• The first summit was in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 7–
8 December 1985.
• They signed the SAARC Charter on 8 December
1985, thereby establishing the regional
association, and established study groups on the
problems of terrorism and drug trafficking, as
well as planning a ministerial-level meeting
about GATT.
• The summit also agreed to establish a SAARC
secretariat and adopted an official SAARC
emblem

22. Second summit
• The second summit was held in November
16–17 Bangalore, India in 1986.
• In this summit, they signed memorandum of
understanding to establish 1st secretariat in
Kathmandu & appoint Ambassador Abul
Ahasan from Bangladesh as 1st SAARC general
secretary.

23. Third summit
• The third summit was held in Nepal from 2–4
November 1987.
• And was attended by the presidents of
Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka, the prime
ministers of India and Pakistan, and the kings
of Bhutan and Nepal.
• They signed SAARC Regional Convention on
Suppression of Terrorism and an agreement to
establish a South Asian Food Reserve.

24. Fourth summit
• The fourth summit was held in Islamabad,
Pakistan on 29–31 December 1988.
• The summit discussed the coup attempt on 3
November 1988, declared 1989 to be the
"SAARC Year Against Drug Abuse", declared
1990 to be the "SAARC Year of the Girl Child“.

25. Fifth summit
• The fifth summit was held in Male, Maldives
on 21–23 November 1990.
• The leaders signed the SAARC Convention on
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,
launched the Special SAARC Travel Document
(providing visa-exemptions for national
judges, parliamentarians and academics and
their immediate families).

26. • Sixth summit: held in colombo, Srilanka on 21
December 1991.
• Seventh summit: held in Dhaka, Bangladesh
on 10-11 April 1993.
• Eighth summit: held in New Delhi, on 2–4 May
1995.
• Ninth summit: The ninth summit was held in
Male, on 12–14 May 1997.

27. • Tenth summit: was held in Colombo, on 29–31
July 1998.
• Eleventh summit: The eleventh summit was
held in Kathmandu, on 4–6 January 2002.
• Twelfth summit: The twelfth summit was held
in Islamabad, on 4–6 January 2004.
• Thirteenth summit: held in Dhaka, on 12–13
November 2005.
• Fourteenth summit: was held in New Delhi,
India on 3rd-4 April 2007.

28. Fifteenth summit
• held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 1–3 August 2008.
• The issues discussed were regional cooperation,
partnership for growth for the peoples of South
Asia, connectivity, energy, the environment,
water resources, poverty.
• the SAARC Development Fund, transport, IT
development, science and technology, tourism,
culture, the South Asian Free Trade Area.

29. Sixteenth summit
• held in Thimpu, Bhutan on 28–29 April 2010.
• Bhutan hosted the SAARC summit for the first
time. This was marked the silver jubilee
celebration of SAARC.
• Climate change was the central issue of the
summit with summit's theme "Towards a
Green and Happy South Asia".

30. • Outcome of Thimpu Summit regarding climate
change issue:
1. SAARC leaders signed a SAARC Convention on
Cooperation on Environment to tackle the
problem of climate change.
2. The SAARC nations also pledged to plant 10
million trees over the next 5 years.
3. The seven-page ‘Thimphu Silver Jubilee
Declaration-Towards a Green and Happy South
Asia’ emphasised the importance of reducing
dependence on high-carbon technologies for
economic growth etc.

31. Seventeenth Summit
• held from 10-11 of November 2011 in Addu
City, Maldives .
• H.E. Mohamed Nasheed was elected as the
Chairperson of the 17th SAARC Summit.
• In his inaugural address, he highlighted three
areas of cooperation in which progress should
be made; trade, transport and economic
integration; security issues such piracy and
climate change.

32. Eighteenth summit
• The 18th SAARC Summit was held at the
Nepalese capital Kathmandu from November
26 to November 27, 2014.
• The motto was ‘Deeper Integration for Peace
and Prosperity’.

33. Nineteenth summit
• Pakistan will host the 19th summit of South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) in Islamabad in 2016.
• This was announced by Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif in his address to the
18th SAARC summit being held in the Nepal’s
capital.

34. POTENTIAL FUTURE MEMBERS

35. CONCLUSION
• working process of SAFTA and SAARC on the
whole to improve the conditions of trade and
to completely tap the potentiality that exist in
the region.
• Adequate steps could also be implemented to
attract more FDI into the region.
• Finally, strengthening of economic relations
can be used to reinforce improving political
relations in the region.