SAARC leaders adopt ‘Kathmandu Declaration’

The last-ditch deal on energy cooperation for a common electricity grid has brightened the “Kathmandu Declaration” before the end of the 18th summit.

Nurul Islam Hasib covering the SAARC summit from Kathmandubdnews24.com
Published : 27 Nov 2014, 03:48 PM
Updated : 27 Nov 2014, 05:39 PM

The SAARC leaders welcomed the agreement and directed the relevant bodies to identify regional and sub-regional projects in the area of power generation, transmission and power trade, including hydropower, natural gas, solar, wind power and bio-fuel.

The leaders also directed them to implement those projects, if taken up, with “high priority” to meet the increasing demand for power in the region.

The eight member states failed to ink much-expected connectivity and energy cooperation deals on the first day Wednesday mainly due to Pakistan’s resistance..

It took gloss off the high-profile gathering and prompted analysts to deride it a “talking shop”.

They finally could not sign the other two deals related to road and railway connectivity but the declaration welcomed the “significant progress” towards finalisation of those deals.

The South Asian leaders agreed to hold a meeting of the transport ministers in three months to finalise the agreements for approval.

The declaration renewed the SAARC leaders’ commitment to enhance regional connectivity.

South Asia remains one of the least integrated regions in the world, though the countries are geographical close.

The intra-regional trade is less than 5 percent. Electricity is a major challenge of the region.

The pact came much to the delight of Bangladesh as Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali remained optimistic even on Wednesday when the summit adjourned without any deal to show for.

He had told bdnews24.com that a breakthrough might come at the last minute as the leaders would surely discuss the issues during their retreat before the closing session.

The retreat at Dhulikhel, 20 kilometres off Kathmandu, witnessed an unscheduled meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which melted the ice.

36-point declaration

The leaders at the ‘Kathmandu declaration’ reiterated their collective old commitments and added new issues like governance, migration, post-2015 development agenda, and blue economy for cooperation.

The 36-point declaration is divided into 27 sub-headings recognising that “it is time to reinvigorate SAARC’s regional cooperation and revitalize SAARC as an effective vehicle to fulfill the developmental aspirations of the peoples of South Asia”.

Bangladesh was pushing forward the issues of blue economy, migration, and post-2015 development agenda.

The declaration called for initiation of an inter-governmental process to “appropriately contextualise” the Sustainable Development Goals, which would come after 2015, at the regional level.

The leaders recognised the ocean-based blue economy and encouraged partnership in this regard.

They agreed to collaborate and cooperate on “safe, orderly and responsible management” of labour migration from the region to ensure safety, security and well being of their migrant workers in the destination countries outside the region.

In the declaration the leaders emphasised the need for linking South Asia with contiguous regions including the Central Asia and beyond by all modes of connectivity.

It also directed authorities to initiate national, regional and sub-regional measures and necessary arrangements for connectivity.

They unequivocally condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and underlined cooperation among the member states to combat them.

They also agreed to establish a cyber crime monitoring desk.

The SAARC leaders welcomed the offer of India to develop and launch a satellite dedicated to SAARC Countries, while agreeing to develop capacity of the member states to apply space technology for socio-economic development and the welfare of the peoples through experience sharing among themselves.

They have also directed elimination of the threshold criteria from the SAARC Food Bank Agreement so as to enable the member states to avail food grains, during both emergency and normal time food difficulty.

Urging for early ratification of the SAARC Seed Bank Agreement, the leaders also directed the relevant SAARC bodies to finalise the establishment of Regional Vaccine Bank and Regional Livestock Gene Bank.

They declared the year 2016 as the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage and tasked the relevant bodies to develop an action plan in this regard.

But to facilitate inter-regional tourism development, the leaders called for “effective and full implementation” of their existing decision to charge nationals of SAARC Member States fees for entry into archaeological and heritage sites as applicable to their own nationals.

They further agreed to facilitate access of persons visiting prominent and holy sites of Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and all other major religions in South Asia.

They also recognised the growing democratisation in South Asia and reiterated their strong commitment to ensure good governance for sustainable development.

And it is by promoting accountability, transparency, rule of law and people’s participation at all level, which was reflected at the US representative’s speech at the summit.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are the members of SAARC now.

Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mauritius, Myanmar and the US are the nine observers.

The collective declaration directed committees concern to engage the observers into “demand-driven priority areas” identified by the member states amid China’s strong lobbying in the summit to get stronger role in this South Asia grouping.

The leaders agreed to hold the meetings of the SAARC Summit every two years or earlier, if necessary, the Council of Ministers once a year, the Standing Committee at least once a year, and the Programming Committee at least twice a year.

They also directed review of SAARC works every three years by a regular session of the Standing Committee with a view to evaluate performance, achievements and constraints.