South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, is a regional group of eight South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was created to help these neighbours work together on trade, farming, health, education, culture and other everyday matters. Its headquarters (called the Secretariat) is in Kathmandu, Nepal. However, SAARC has been largely inactive in recent years because of tension between India and Pakistan.

Why does it exist?

South Asia is home to about a quarter of the world's people, and the countries share rivers, borders, languages and history. Yet they trade very little with each other. Neighbours who cooperate can grow faster together, just like families in one housing society can share a water tank or a security guard and save money. SAARC was meant to be that shared platform for the region.

Where did it come from?

The idea of a South Asian regional body was first put forward in 1980 by Ziaur Rahman, then President of Bangladesh. After several rounds of meetings among foreign secretaries and foreign ministers, the SAARC Charter was adopted at the first SAARC Summit in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. That is why 8 December is observed as SAARC Charter Day.

The seven founding members were Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The SAARC Secretariat was set up in Kathmandu on 17 January 1987. Afghanistan became the eighth member in 2007.

How does it work?

SAARC works through a ladder of meetings:

1. Summit: Heads of state or government. The Charter says they should meet once a year or more often if needed.
2. Council of Ministers: The foreign ministers, who make policy and review progress.
3. Standing Committee: The foreign secretaries, who monitor and coordinate programmes.
4. Technical Committees and working groups: Experts on specific subjects like agriculture or health.
5. Secretariat: The office in Kathmandu that runs day-to-day work. It is headed by a Secretary-General, a post that rotates among member countries.

Two golden rules (Article X of the Charter)

• Unanimity: All decisions, at every level, must be taken with the agreement of every member. So one country can block anything.
• No bilateral or contentious issues: Disputes between two members, like the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan, are kept out of SAARC discussions.

These rules were meant to keep SAARC calm and friendly. In practice, they also mean that SAARC cannot solve the biggest problems in the region, and that any single member can stall it.

Observers

Nine observers can attend SAARC meetings but do not have voting rights: Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea and the United States.

Key achievements and institutions

• SAPTA (SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement): Signed in 1993, in force from 1995. Members gave each other lower import duties on selected goods.
• SAFTA (Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area): Signed at the 12th Summit in Islamabad on 6 January 2004, in force from 1 January 2006. It aimed to bring customs duties on most goods traded among members down to 0-5% in phases, with more time given to the smaller, poorer members (the Least Developed Countries).
• SAARC Development Fund: Based in Thimphu, Bhutan, it funds regional projects on social welfare, infrastructure and economic growth.
• South Asian University: Set up by SAARC members in New Delhi.
• SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme: Lets certain categories of people (such as judges, members of parliament, senior officials, journalists and sportspersons) travel within the region without a separate visa.
• SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund (2020): Set up after a video conference of SAARC leaders called by India in March 2020. India pledged 10 million US dollars.

Why is SAARC stuck?

The 18th Summit, held in Kathmandu in November 2014, is the last summit so far. The 19th Summit was to be held in Islamabad in November 2016. After a terror attack on an Indian Army camp at Uri in September 2016, India announced it would not attend. Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also pulled out, and later Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Because of the unanimity rule, the summit could not happen, and it has not been held since. In April 2025, after the Pahalgam terror attack, India suspended the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme for Pakistani nationals.

India's position and the shift to BIMSTEC

India is the largest SAARC member by size, population and economy. India's view is that regional cooperation cannot go forward while cross-border terrorism continues. So India has put more energy into other groupings that do not include Pakistan:

• BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation): Set up in 1997 by the Bangkok Declaration. Seven members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. Secretariat in Dhaka. It links South Asia with South-East Asia.
• BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal): A smaller sub-regional group focused on transport, power and water.
• India still supports useful SAARC-linked projects, such as the South Asia Satellite (launched in 2017), which Pakistan chose not to join.

At the same time, other groupings are forming in the region. In June 2025, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh held their first trilateral (three-country) meeting in Kunming, China, to discuss trade, connectivity and other cooperation. Bangladesh said this was not a political alliance.

Commonly confused concepts

• SAARC vs BIMSTEC: SAARC has 8 members, includes Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Maldives, and has its secretariat in Kathmandu. BIMSTEC has 7 members, includes Myanmar and Thailand but not Pakistan, and has its secretariat in Dhaka.
• SAPTA vs SAFTA: SAPTA (1993) only gave lower duties on selected goods. SAFTA (2004) aimed at a free trade area with very low duties on most goods.
• Members vs observers: Myanmar and Iran are SAARC observers, not members. Afghanistan is a member (since 2007).
• SAARC vs ASEAN: ASEAN is the South-East Asian group of 10 or more countries with its secretariat in Jakarta. It is far more integrated in trade than SAARC.
• SAARC Charter Day vs founding year: The Charter was adopted on 8 December 1985, but the Secretariat started only in 1987.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• India-Pakistan tension: The biggest reason SAARC is stalled. Summits and many meetings stopped after 2016.
• Very low regional trade: Trade among South Asian countries is only about 5% of their total trade, one of the lowest levels of any region in the world. High tariffs, long "sensitive lists" of excluded goods and poor border infrastructure hold it back.
• Unanimity rule: One member can block every decision, so progress is slow.
• Size imbalance: Smaller members sometimes worry about the dominance of India, the largest member. India, in turn, worries about security threats from across its borders.
• Afghanistan's situation: Since 2021, the question of who represents Afghanistan has added another complication.
• Way forward: Experts suggest reviving SAARC through practical, low-politics cooperation such as disaster relief, health, climate and connectivity; a "SAARC minus one" approach through sub-regional groups like BBIN and BIMSTEC; and cutting non-tariff barriers under SAFTA. Many agree that SAARC can work properly only when India-Pakistan relations improve and terrorism is addressed.

Concepts to Know

• Regional organisation: A group of neighbouring countries that agree to work together on shared problems and goals.
• Summit: A meeting of the top leaders (presidents or prime ministers) of member countries.
• Tariff (customs duty): A tax on goods brought in from another country.
• Free trade area: A group of countries that remove or sharply cut tariffs on goods traded among themselves.
• Least Developed Countries (LDCs): Countries the UN lists as the poorest and most vulnerable, which usually get extra time and softer rules in trade deals.
• Non-tariff barriers: Obstacles to trade that are not taxes, such as long paperwork, strict testing rules or slow border checks.
• Sub-regional grouping: A smaller group of a few countries inside a larger region, like BBIN inside South Asia.