South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation: Difference between revisions

| name                  = {{collapsible list

   |titlestyle = background:lightBlue; text-align:center; font-size:85%;

   |title = {{resize|125%|South Asian Association<br />for Regional Cooperation}}

     | rowclass4 = mergedrow| label4 = [[Hindi]]: | data4 = {{lang|hi|दक्षिण एशियाई क्षेत्रीय सहयोग संगठन}}

     | rowclass6 = mergedrow| label6 = [[Nepali language|Nepali]]: | data6 = {{lang|ne|दक्षिण एशियाली क्षेत्रीय सहयोग सङ्गठन}}

| leader_name1          = [[Esala Weerakoon|Esala Ruwan Weerakoon]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nepalforeignaffairs.com/saarc-secretary-general-weerakoon-assumes-office/ |title=SAARC Secretary General Weerakoon assumes office |website=Nepal Foreign Affairs}}</ref>

SAARC was founded in [[Dhaka]] on 8 December 1985.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/1156839/rest-peace-saarc-tug-war-india-pakistan/ |title=Rest in peace SAARC: The tug of war between India and Pakistan |date=6 August 2016 |first=Naveed |last=Ahmad |publisher=[[The Express Tribune]] |website=tribune.com.pk |access-date=7 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807134934/http://tribune.com.pk/story/1156839/rest-peace-saarc-tug-war-india-pakistan/ |archive-date=7 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Its secretariat is based in [[Kathmandu]], [[Nepal]]. The organization promotes economic development and [[regional integration]].<ref name="Charter of SAARC">{{cite web |url=http://www.saarc-sec.org/SAARC-Charter/5/ |title=Charter of SAARC |website=SAARC Secretariat |access-date=10 November 2013}}</ref> It launched the [[South Asian Free Trade Area]] in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aric.adb.org/fta/south-asian-free-trade-area|title=South Asian Free Trade Area Free Trade Agreement|last=Center|first=Asia Regional Integration|website=aric.adb.org|access-date=2 March 2018}}</ref> SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the [[United Nations]] as an observer and has developed links with multilateral entities, including the [[European Union]].

!GDP (nominal) [US$ million, 2022]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2019/02/weodata/index.aspx|title=IMF GDP data Outlook 2022}}</ref>

| style="text-align:left;" | Bangladesh || {{UN_Population|Bangladesh}} || $419,764 || $2,040,000 || $2,719 || $8,111 || 8.2% || $48,000 || $54,620 || $45,054 || $4,530 || 80.2% || 73.10 || 24.3% || 98% || 79% || 11.4%

| style="text-align:left;" | Bhutan || {{UN_Population|Bhutan}} || $2,842 || $8,195 || $3,423 || $9,876 || 6.4% || $580 || $186 || $987 || $25.1 || 59.5% || 70.20 || 12% || 91% || 78% || N/A

| style="text-align:left;" | India || {{UN_Population|India}} || $3,049,704 || $10,510,290 || $2,191 || $7,867 || 6.4% || $303,400 || $367,500 || $487,237 || $60,580 || 77.7% || 70.1 || 21.9% || 92% || 75% || 15.2%

| style="text-align:left;" | Maldives || {{UN_Population|Maldives}} || $5,786 || $8,667 || $15,563 || $23,312 || 6.9% || $256 || $324 || $722 || $86.4 || 98.6% || 77.34 || 16% || N/A || N/A || 5.2%

| style="text-align:left;" | Nepal || {{UN_Population|Nepal}} || $29,813 || $94,414 || $1,115 || $3,585 || 6.2% || $819 || $103 || $9,440 || $213 || 64.7% || 70.25 || 13.4% || 98% || 67% || 7.8%

| style="text-align:left;" | Pakistan || {{UN_Population|Pakistan}} || $284,214 || $1,076,258 || $1,357 || $5,230 || 3.3% || $21,940 || $41,560 || $12,784 || $11,400 || 58% || 66.48 || 24.3% || 72% || 34% || 22%

| style="text-align:left;" | Sri Lanka || {{UN_Population|Sri Lanka}} || $86,556 || $304,826 || $3,698 || $13,114 || 3.0% || $10,930 || N/A || $7,635 || $2,500 || 93.2% || 75.28 || 6.7% || 94% || 77% || 22%

</ref> The issue of Afghanistan joining SAARC generated a great deal of debate in each member state, including concerns about the definition of South Asian identity<ref name="Routledge">{{cite book |last=Sáez |first=Lawrence |date=2012 |title=The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC): An emerging collaboration architecture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yTzKWI42uR4C&pg=PT58 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=58– |isbn=978-1-136-67108-1}}</ref> because Afghanistan is [[Indian subcontinent#Geopolitics|considered a Central Asian country]], while it is neither accepted as a [[Middle East]]ern country, nor as a [[Central Asia]]n country, or as part of the [[Indian subcontinent]], other than being only in part of [[South Asia]].<ref name="anderson5">{{cite book|author1=Ewan W. Anderson|author2=Liam D. Anderson|title=An Atlas of Middle Eastern Affairs|date=4 December 2013|url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/_/n-VJAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA5|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-64862-5|page=5}}, Quote: "To the east, Iran, as a Gulf state, offers a generally accepted limit to the Middle East. However, Afghanistan, also a Muslim state, is then left in isolation. It is not accepted as a part of Central Asia and it is clearly not part of the Indian subcontinent".</ref>

|SAARC Development Fund (SDF)

|South Asian University (SAU)

The SAFTA Agreement was signed on 6 January 2004 during Twelfth SAARC Summit held in [[Islamabad]], Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/2977.pdf |title=Challenges and opportunities for Pakistan under SAFTA |first1=Asif |last1=Maqbool |first2=Muhammad Waqas Alam |last2=Chattha |first3=Masood |last3=Azeem |format=PDF |date= |access-date=2022-01-27}}</ref> The Agreement entered into force on 1 January 2006, and the Trade Liberalization Programme commenced from 1 July 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://commerce.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/safta.pdf |title=Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) |website=Department of Commerce}}</ref> Under this agreement, SAARC members will bring their duties down to 20 percent by 2009. Following the Agreement coming into force the SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC) has been established comprising the Commerce Ministers of the Member States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saarc-sec.org/areaofcooperation/detail.php?activity_id=5|title=South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation&nbsp;— Area of Cooperation|work=saarc-sec.org}}</ref> In 2012 SAARC exports increased substantially to $354.6 billion from $206.7 billion in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.eximbankindia.in/Assets/Dynamic/PDF/Publication-Resources/ResearchPapers/43file.pdf |title=Potential for Enhancing Intra-SAARC Trade: A Brief Analysis |website=Export-Import Bank of India}}</ref> Imports too increased from $330 billion to $602 billion over the same period. But the intra-SAARC trade amounts to just a little over 1% of SAARC's GDP. In contrast to SAARC, in [[ASEAN]] (which is actually smaller than SAARC in terms of the size of the economy) the intra-bloc trade stands at 10% of its GDP.

* 2011: Youth leadership in the fight against social ills - Mr. Mohamed Faseen Rafiu (The Maldives)<ref>{{Cite web |title=SAARC Youth Awards |url=https://www.saarc-sec.org/index.php/resources/announcement/saarc-youth-awards |access-date=2022-02-26 |website=www.saarc-sec.org |language=en-gb |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019063411/https://www.saarc-sec.org/index.php/resources/announcement/saarc-youth-awards |archive-date=19 October 2021}}</ref>

| 6 || Nihal Rodrigo || Sri Lanka || 1 January 1999 || 10 January 2002

| 14 || [[Esala Ruwan Weerakoon]] || Sri Lanka || 1 March 2020 || ''Incumbent''

|File:3x4.svg|{{flag|Afghanistan|2013}}<!--IRA flag still used by SAARC, see their website--><br>'''[[Hibatullah Akhundzada]]'''<br>[[Supreme Leader of Afghanistan]]<br>{{midsize|(''[[Recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|de facto]]'')}}<!--Not recognized as the rightful leader of Afghanistan by SAARC-->

|File:CM Punjab Shehbaz Sharif (35771008313) (cropped).jpg|{{flag|Islamic Republic of Pakistan}}<br>'''[[Shehbaz Sharif]]'''<br>[[Prime Minister of Pakistan]]

|File:Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi on November 23, 2017.jpg|{{flag|Sri Lanka|name=Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka}}<br>'''[[Ranil Wickremesinghe]]'''<br>[[President of Sri Lanka]]