Regional integration pegged to SAARC revival

  • IASbaba
  • February 24, 2020
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Regional integration pegged to SAARC revival

Part of: GS Prelims –Polity and GS-II- International relations

In news:

Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said :

  • Postponement of the Kathmandu SAARC Summit in 2017 due to heightened tensions between India and Pakistan had brought the regional grouping “to a standstill”.
  • Successful regional integration both economic and security depends on SAARC becoming fully functional at the highest levels
  • BIMSTEC is not a substitute for SAARC
  • Proposed  an ‘Economic Integration Road Map (EIRM)’ : a “sub-region”, consisting of the five southern States of India, Sri Lanka (Population of 300 million people and a combined GDP of over $500 billion)

From Prelims Point of View:

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

  • Established with the signing of the SAARC Charter Dhaka
  •  Headquarters and Secretariat Kathmandu, Nepal.

Framework of the SAARC:

  • Respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and mutual benefit.

SAARC comprises of eight member States

  • Afghanistan
  • Bangladesh
  • Bhutan
  • India
  • Maldives
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Sri Lanka

Observers to SAARC, are: (i) Australia; (ii) China; (iii) the European Union; (iv) Iran; (v) Japan; (vi) the Republic of Korea; (vii) Mauritius; (viii) Myanmar; and (ix) the United States of America.

BIMSTEC

  • Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional multilateral organisation.

Members:   

  • Bangladesh
  • Bhutan
  • India
  • Nepal
  • Sri Lanka
  • Myanmar
  • Thailand

Features

  • Connects South and Southeast Asia
  • Connects ecologies of the Great Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal.

Aims

  • To create an enabling environment for rapid economic development
  • Accelerate social progress , Promote collaboration on matters of common interest in the region.
  • Sub-regional organization came into being in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration
  • Creating an enabling environment for the rapid economic development of the sub-region.
  • Encouraging the spirit of equality and partnership.
  • Promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance in the areas of common interests of the member countries
  • Accelerating support for each other in the fields of education, science, and technology, etc.

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