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South Asia summit ends with pledges of cooperation
THIMPHU: South Asian leaders wound up a summit in Bhutan Thursday with an accord to tackle climate change and promises to pursue a new era of development for their under-performing region.The two-day summit of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was notable for the frank appraisal offered by several members of the bloc's collective failings over the past 25 years.
In a final declaration, the summit said it was time for the organisation to live up "to the hopes and aspirations of the one-fifth of humanity" represented by the eight leaders gathered in the Bhutanese capital Thimphu.
It also adopted a statement on climate change that stressed the need for the region to join hands in combating a threat that faces all its members, from low-lying Maldives and Bangladesh to Himalayan nations like Bhutan and Nepal.
The host nation's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley, who chaired the gathering, said there had been an overwhelming consensus to turn SAARC into "more than a talk shop".
"The stage is set for SAARC to enter a new era 25 years after its founding," Thinley said.
"I hope the things that did not happen in South Asia will now begin to happen," he added.
SAARC, founded in 1985, groups Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Critics have blamed its failure to exploit the region's common potential on the long and bitter rivalry between its two most powerful members, India and Pakistan, which has often hijacked the bloc's agenda.
The two countries also stole the media spotlight at the Thimphu summit, where their respective prime ministers, India's Manmohan Singh and Pakistan's Yousuf Raza Gilani, held direct talks for the first time in nine months.
Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed, who will host the next SAARC summit, said the coming year would show whether the bloc could move away from declarations of intent to concrete implementation.
"My fear is that at the moment there is a disconnection between ambition and achievement. The ultimate result is that SAARC is not adequately delivering on the needs of the people of South Asia," Nasheed said.
"Now, therefore, is the time... to begin a meaningful and self-critical appraisal," he added.
It was the first time the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has hosted a SAARC summit in the bloc's 25-year history.
Courtesy www.Geo.tv