SAARC Summit

The First SAARC Summit was held in Dhaka on 8th December, 1985. Now the SAARC is 12 years old body and during this period SAARC has made some progress, though not spectacular. The Eighth SAARC Summit was held in New Delhi in December 1994, The Summit urged the liberalization of world trade and dismantling of artificial barriers which impede exports from developing countries. It also focused on known areas of concern like terrorism, increasing trade in narcotics, environment protection, empowerment of women and children, poverty alleviation and global nuclear disarmament. It also expressed confidence that the momentum given to SAPTA during the summit was bound to be carried forward with even greater vigour in the coming years. When asked what SAARC had to boast of its 10 years’ existence, the then Union Minister of Commerce, P.Chidambaram, may not exactly have to boast of by way of achievements in its 10 years’ of existence, at the same time it cannot be belittled. SAARC has been able to establish a strong base of regional cooperation in several areas such as agriculture, communications, education, environment, drug-trafficking, rural development, science and technology, poverty alleviation, employment of women, etc. But it is unfair to compare SAARC with ASEAN or European Union which have been much longer in existence.”