The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in 1985 with the goal of promoting economic and social progress in South Asia. It has 8 member countries and focuses on increasing collaboration in areas like agriculture, education, and trade. In 2004, the members agreed to form the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) to reduce tariffs and promote free trade among the region by 2012. SAARC has also granted observer status to several countries and organizations to strengthen cooperation.

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2. INTRODUCTION
 SAARC is an economic and
political organization.
 SAARC was established on
December 8, 1985.
 In terms of population - almost
1.5 billion people.
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3.  It aims to accelerate the
process of economic and
social development in
Member States.
 SAARC provides a
platform for the peoples
of South Asia to work
together in the spirit
understanding.
 In April 2007, at the
Association's 14th
summit, Afghanistan
became its eighth
member.
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4. IN APRIL 2007 Afghanistan became its 8th member.
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5. OBJECTIVES
 To promote the welfare of
the people
 To accelerate economic
growth, social progress and
cultural development
 To promote and strengthen
collective self-reliance and
purposes.
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6. •To contribute to mutual trust,
understand and appreciation of
one another's problem;
•To promote active collaboration
and mutual assistance
•To strengthen cooperation with
other developing countries;
•To strengthen cooperation
among themselves
•To cooperate with international
and regional organisations with
similar aims
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7. AREA OF COOPERATION
• 1. Agricultural and Rural
• 2. Biotechnology
• 3. Culture
• 4. Economic and Trade
• 5. Education
• 6. Energy
• 7. Environment
• 8. Finance
• 9. Funding Mechanism
• 10. Information,
Communication and Media
• 11. People to people
contacts
• 12. Poverty Alleviation
• 13. Science and Technol
Department of South Asian, Middle East,
African Affairs
December 2013
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8. IPA
(INTEGRATED PROGRAMME OF ACTION)
The Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation was adopted by
the Foreign Ministers in 1983 in New Delhi. During the meeting, the
Ministers also launched the Integrated Programme of Action (IPA) in
nine agreed areas namely:-
• Agriculture
• Rural Development
• Telecommunications
• Meteorology
• Health and Population Activities
• Transport
• Postal Services
• Science and Technology
• Sports, Arts and Culture
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9. • List of SAARC summits
• ¤ 1st SAARC Summit (Dhaka, December 8, 1985)
• ¤ 2nd SAARC Summit (Bangalore, November 17,
1986)
• ¤ 3rd SAARC Summit (Katmandu, November 4,
1987)
• ¤ 4th SAARC Summit (Islamabad, December 31,
1988)
• ¤ 5th SAARC Summit (Male', November 23, 1990)
• ¤ 6th SAARC Summit (Colombo, December 21,
1991)
• ¤ 7th SAARC Summit (Dhaka, April 11, 1993)
• ¤ 8th SAARC Summit (New Delhi, May 4, 1995)
• ¤ 9th SAARC Summit (Male', May 14, 1997)
• ¤ 10th SAARC Summit (Colombo, July 31, 1998)
• ¤ 11th SAARC Summit (Katmandu, January 6, 2002)
• ¤ 12th SAARC Summit (Islamabad, January 6, 2004)
• ¤ 13th SAARC Summit (Dhaka, November 13,2005)
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10. SAPTA
(SAARC PREFERENTIAL TRADING
AGREEMENT)• The Agreement on (SAPTA) was signed on 11 April 1993 and
entered into force on 7 December 1995
• To promote and sustain mutual trade and economic
cooperation within the SAARC region through the exchange of
concessions.
• The establishment of an Inter-Governmental Group (IGG) to
formulate an agreement to establish a SAPTA by 1997 was
approved in the Sixth Summit of SAARC held in Colombo in
December 1991.
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11. Principles underlying SAPTA
• Overall reciprocity and mutuality of advantages
• Negotiation of tariff reform
• Recognition of the special needs of the Least Developed
Contracting States and agreement on concrete preferential
measures in their favour
• Inclusion of all products, manufactures and commodities in
their raw, semi-processed and processed forms.
So far, four rounds of trade negotiations have been concluded
under SAPTA covering over 5000 commodities
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12. SAFTA
(South Asian Free Trade Agreement)
• The Agreement on the South Asian Free Trade Area is an
agreement reached at the 12th SAARC summit at Islamabad,
capital of Pakistan on 6 January 2004.
• Free trade area covering 1.4 billion people in India, Pakistan,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives
• The new agreement i.e. SAFTA, came into being on 1 January
2006 and will be operational following the ratification of the
agreement by the seven governments
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13. • India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - to bring their duties down to 20
percent in the first phase of the two year period ending in
2007.
• In the final five year ending 2012, the 20 percent duty will be
reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts.
• Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives -three years to reduce tariffs to
zero.
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14. DHAKA 2005 SUMMIT
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The summit accorded observer status to People's Republic
of China, Japan, South Korea and United States of
America. The nations also agreed to organize
development funds under a single financial institution
with a permanent secretariat, that would cover all SAARC
programs ranging from social, to infrastructure, to

15. OBSERVER
• In April 2006, the United States of America and South Korea
made formal requests to be granted observer status.
• The European Union also indicated interest in being given
observer status, and made a formal request for the same to the
SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in July 2006.
• On August 2, 2006 the foreign ministers of the SAARC
countries agreed in principle to grant observer status to the US,
South Korea and the European Union
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16. EUROPEAN UNION (EU) AND SAARC
• In 1999, EU and SAARC agree to
cooperate on improving market
access for SAARC products into EU.
• The EU has observer in SAARC
since 2006.
• EU is convinced that SAARC could
play a useful role in regional co-
operation and dialogue.
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17. ©Harsh goswami