16th SAARC Summit at Thimphu

The 16th SAARC Summit concluded in Thimphu, Bhutan last week. Two characteristics of South Asians strike me when leaders of SAARC nations meet. First, South Asians feel more comfortable in big crowds. Second, South Asians are highly entrepreneurial. The Thimphu Summit reaffirmed the impressions. Even though the SAARC Charter prohibits discussions on contentious bilateral issues, leaders of India and Pakistan feel most comfortable in conversing at sidelines of SAARC Summits. Despite slow progress of previously agreed cooperative projects, SAARC members do not shy away from undertaking new ventures at each summit meeting.

Whether it was the Islamabad Summit in 2004 or the Thimphu Summit in 2010, SAARC Summit attracts more attention when thaw in India-Pakistan relations is on the horizon. SAARC may not resolve India-Pakistan differences, but the multilateral forum certainly gains visibility and prominence through the high profile bilateral drama.
If one looks at the agreements made under the aegis of SAARC, it gives an impression that SAARC states are marching ahead in forging deeper and wider regional ties. SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism was signed in 1987, much before terrorism was recognized as a global threat. The grouping has signed agreements on issues ranging from a Social Charter and South Asian University to regional free trade area and climate change. There is to my mind no issue on which a regional agreement or convention does not exist in South Asia. Activation and result-oriented implementation of these agreements is a different story and is reserved for discussion in academic circles rather than in media reports and political speeches.
Though people (countries) with the loudest voice (India and Pakistan) get maximum attention in the crowd, it is important to get a sense of what the crowd is thinking and doing. Here is what happened at the Thimphu Summit beyond the India-Pakistan interaction. 

Yields of the Thimphu Summit:
The theme of the 16th SAARC Summit was to promote a ‘Green and Happy South Asia’.
The leaders sought to promote people-centric development, culture, preservation of environment, better governance for enhancing the region’s Gross National Happiness (GNH). The Summit also approved Bhutan’s offer to host a SAARC Workshop on GNH in 2010.
In pursuance of the recommendation contained in the SAARC Ministerial Statement on
Environment on conservation of aquatic ecosystem, trans-boundary bio-diversity zones, automated network of weather stations and regular and systematic sharing of scientific data, the Leaders called for focus on water management and conservation and development of cooperative projects at regional level in terms of exchange of best practices and knowledge, capacity building and transfer of eco-friendly technology. The Thimpu Statement on Climate Change provided the details of the SAARC programme to combat the challenge of climate change.
For the first time the efficacy of public diplomacy found mention in the SAARC declaration. Public awareness about SAARC programs and initiatives is very limited in the region. The realization that private media, think-tanks and civil society could be used to familiarize the people with regional initiatives is a welcome move.
The first academic session of the South Asian University begins from August 2010.
A Motor Vehicles Agreement, providing for connectivity between Kabul and Dhaka criss-crossing the region, and a pact on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters was stalled after Pakistan refused to come on board.
From Speeches at the Summit.
Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan: “I believe that SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and its Additional Protocol offer an excellent platform for practical regional cooperation to eliminate this scourge from our midst. However, we will not succeed in achieving this goal until all members of SAARC, without exception or reservation, commit not to allow their territories to be used directly or indirectly to shelter, arm or train terrorist groups.”
Was this an indirect note of caution to Pakistan?
Jigmi Y. Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan, Inaugural Address: “Every South Asian knows that a discordant family cannot be happy and that fractious and quarrelsome neighbors do not make a prosperous community. We know very well also that where one prospers in a divided neighborhood, that prosperity is short-lived. In a globalizing world, where shrinking space and time cause collisions – often conflicts – dialogue and discourse are indispensable.”
Bhutan explains why India and Pakistan should continue talking!
Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India: “I believe we should challenge ourselves by acknowledging that the glass of regional cooperation, regional development and regional integration is half empty…We have created institutions for regional cooperation but we have not yet empowered them adequately to enable them to be more pro-actively.”
A realist assessment of SAARC at 25?
Mohamed Nasheed, President of Maldives: “I hope that neighbors can find ways to compartmentalize pending differences, while finding areas on which they can move forward. I am specifically referring to differences between India and Pakistan.”
A direct comment attributing lack of progress in SAARC to India-Pakistan differences.
Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Prime minister of Pakistan: “Terrorism is a phenomenon that is global, regional and local, trans-national and trans-regional. It has roots in history, economic neglect and injustice.”
Terrorism emerges from socio-economic maladies and is not created or supported by Pakistan.�
Thimphu Summit can be celebrated for contributing to another thaw in India-Pakistan relations. But as a multilateral forum SAARC is beginning to show signs of uneasiness for having become a stage to display acrimony or goodwill between India and Pakistan. It is time that SAARC moves beyond merely commemorating bilateral thaws to actualizing regional programs.