Essay On SAARC
Introduction: The SAARC is the name of
a regional organization, a voluntary association of the seven countries of South
Asia. The word SAARC stands for South Asian Association for Regional
Co-operation. It was first proposed by late President Ziaur Rahman of
Bangladesh during his tour to seven countries in South Asia. He felt that a
committee should be formed amongst the South Asian countries for regional
co-operation and the other countries of this region also agreed to his
proposal. Bangladesh first sent a rough declaration for a summit conference and
based on this, finally, a regional association among the seven countries has
been formed. It is a voluntary association.
Formation: The SAARC now includes eight
countries in South Asia. The last participating country is Afghanistan. The
countries are now – Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. However, a lot of other names were proposed for this
committee, such as the Association for South Asia, the Organization of South Asian
Forum, etc. Ultimately this association was named as South Asian Association
for Regional Co-operation.
The beginning: In the year 1981, a
pre-summit conference was held in Colombo Sri Lanka to discuss the
development of the committee. Secretaries of the seven countries met there and
formed a committee of the whole to decide the fields of cooperation. The
fields of cooperation are rural development, agriculture, tele-communication,
weather, health, family planning, and scientific development. A series of
meetings were held in New Delhi in the year 1983, Maldives in the year 1984, and Thimpu in 1985. It was decided in these meetings that the first SAARC summit
conference would be held in Bangladesh in December 1985.
First Summit: The first SAARC summit
conference took place on 7th December 1985 in the Sangsad Bhaban (Parliament
House) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka. The heads of the seven states attended
the summit and expressed their eagerness to cooperate with one another. They
decided to extend their assistance to the member countries in times of need and
they also put emphasis on settling the disputes among these countries. The
next venue of the summit was also decided and till then the summit has been
held in each country.
Conclusion: The eight member countries
of the SAARC contain a huge population and the economies of these
countries are still developing huge. The idea of SAARC is that if these
countries work as a single entity, economic development would be possible at a
greater scale than it would be at the individual level. It would be beneficial
for all the citizens of the eight countries.
