VISION OF SAARC IN ITS THIRD DECADE-A PERSPECTIVE

This article offers a perspective on a future vision for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as it entered its third decade. It provides a critical assessment of the organization's past performance, acknowledging its limited achievements, before articulating a more ambitious and forward-looking vision for the future. The study argues that for SAARC to become truly effective, it must move from a model of limited, functional cooperation to one of deeper integration, modeled on more successful regional organizations like the EU and ASEAN. The proposed vision includes the full and effective implementation of a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), the development of a common market, and eventually, a South Asian Economic Union. The paper also calls for a gradual and pragmatic engagement with political and security issues, suggesting that the principle of excluding "contentious" issues should be revisited. The analysis concludes that the third decade would be a critical, make-or-break period for SAARC, requiring bold political leadership to transform the organization from a vision into a reality.

As the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) approached its twentieth anniversary, it was a moment for both reflection and a new vision for the future. This paper provides such a perspective. The first part of the study offers a candid assessment of SAARC's first two decades, characterizing them as a period of modest achievements and unfulfilled potential, largely held back by political constraints. The core of the article is the articulation of a bold and ambitious vision for SAARC's third decade. This vision is centered on the concept of "deep integration." Economically, the paper argues for moving rapidly from the preferential trade arrangement of SAPTA to a genuine Free Trade Area (SAFTA), and then laying the groundwork for a future customs union and common market. It emphasizes that this requires not just tariff reductions but the harmonization of standards, the creation of regional transport corridors, and the facilitation of cross-border investment. Politically, the paper offers a more controversial but necessary vision. It argues that SAARC can no longer afford to be a "conflict-avoidance" organization and must evolve into a "conflict-resolution" organization. It calls for a gradual rethinking of the charter's principle of unanimity and the exclusion of bilateral issues, suggesting that a more flexible and pragmatic approach to political and security cooperation is essential for the region's long-term stability. The paper concludes that the realization of this vision would require a historic and transformative act of political will from the leaders of South Asia.