The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of eight South Asian nations. It is an institution established to promote economic growth, social progress, and cultural development within the region.
The concept's origin dates back to May 1980, when President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh formally proposed the idea of South Asian regional cooperation. The organization was formally established on December 8, 1985, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, when the Heads of State of seven founding members—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—adopted its charter. The primary problem it aimed to solve was the lack of a platform for collective self-reliance and mutual trust among the countries of South Asia. Afghanistan joined as the eighth member in 2007.
SAARC operates based on the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other member states. Its mechanism is governed by the SAARC Charter, which stipulates that all decisions at all levels must be made on the basis of unanimity. Crucially, the Charter excludes the discussion of "bilateral and contentious issues" from its deliberations. Key mechanisms include the annual SAARC Summits of Heads of State or Government, the Council of Ministers, and the Secretariat, which is headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal.
A major concept connected to SAARC is the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), an agreement established in 2006 to lower duties and tariffs among member states to encourage trade. As SAARC has largely been dormant, India has increasingly promoted the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) as an alternative platform for regional cooperation, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand.
SAARC has been largely stagnant since the 18th Summit in Kathmandu in November 2014. The 19th Summit, scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan in 2016, was indefinitely postponed following the withdrawal of India and several other member states due to heightened tensions, particularly after the Uri attack. This political inertia, primarily due to tensions between India and Pakistan, has led to the organization being widely considered defunct, though informal meetings have continued.