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The Twelfth SAARC Summit

Charting a Road Map for South Asian Cooperation

Rehman Sobhan is Executive Chairman, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Dhaka, Bangladesh and a Member of the Group of Eminent Persons established by the 9th SAARC Summit in 1997 at Malé.

The article focuses on some of the key issues identified in the Islamabad Declaration. While it provides a road map to a South Asian Economic Union, progress will depend upon the resolution of specific problems in interconnected issue areas. For instance, increasing intra-regional trade in South Asia will require integration of regional infrastructure. This in turn implies not just the strengthening of regional transportation, transit and communication links, harmonisation of standards and simplification of customs procedures, but also monetary cooperation between central banks and energy cooperation. Investment cooperation, involving joint ventures between the public and private sectors, would need to be financially underwritten by a prospective South Asia Development Bank. Finally, the governments of the region would need to discuss, coordinate and exchange information with a view to adopting common South Asian positions in multilateral forums. Within such a cooperative framework, the goal of poverty reduction would evolve into an authentic regional agenda for South Asia.

South Asian Survey, Vol. 12, No. 1, 3-19 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/097152310501200101


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