SAARC: Ushering a New Era of Cooperation
In the era of aggressive globalization, block politics hardly matters. However, economic integration, free trade, GDP growth, and connectivity through infrastructure development do matter most to the international system. Where all the leaders have failed to forge regional cooperation during the 22 years of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) existence, International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have rekindled hope in SAARC to become relevant, although economically. This is politically incorrect but true.
The 14th Summit meeting held in Delhi in early April is a milestone in SAARC’s chequered history. Now, those who believe that SAARC is a dead letter will think twice about writing off SAARC. The Delhi meet witnessed many landmarks like the inclusion of Afghanistan as its 8th member country, the observer status of the US and European Union with China, Japan and South Korea and clearance of Iran’s entry as an observer. The Heads of Governments have come out of their hard shell of bilateral jinx to foster new cooperation in many fields as accepted as 30 point of the Delhi Declaration, notably on energy and environment. But, will the new found environmental stewardship cooperation bring any result? The potential is huge for this new initiative to address the present and clear danger of climate change and poverty in South Asia. After nearly two decades of uncertainty, which always marred by bilateral skirmishes, at last SAARC is heading for a possible integrated regional market within larger Asian market.
Despite a common location, history, customs, cuisine, and culture, according to the World Bank, the South Asia is the least-integrated region in the world! The trade pundits believe that countries that have opened up trade with the rest of the world remain closed to each other. International developmental agencies believe that each country can gain from economic cooperation. More than the Heads of Governments, the international development partners and bilateral donors in South Asian region want to see a strong cooperation among countries to address the perpetual poverty in this part of the world.
The WB and the ADB are the major and influential development partners of the South Asian Countries. While SAARC being the political outfit struggling to forge a common development plan in South Asia, both IFIs have their regional development plans as well as country specific strategic plan which complements each other. Thus, the strategy for cooperation has already been put forward by the IFIs through their developmental prescription to each country in such a way that now the integration seems tangible. The strong evidence of this is that the WB was the official Knowledge partner of the SAARC business leaders conclave held at Mumbai in March 2007. The ADB has already engaged with financial assistance as well as knowledge inputs in the South Asian Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) on the sectors like infrastructure, tourism, environment sector etc.
Meantime, the countries are projected as fast growing energy consumers in Asia. However, the energy base is mostly from conventional energy and imported oil from outside the political boundary which poses insecurity among the countries. The fossil fuels, major energy base for the South Asian countries, are also emitting greenhouse gases (GHG) which causes climate change. To sustain the current economic growth simultaneously protect the environment and address the ill effects of climate change, the countries need to influence their energy policy accordingly.
The new priorities for the emerging economies are the development of the energy sector and the protection of the environment and natural resource base. In the globalized economy, the solution is not confined to national capacities or capabilities but are being sought by a wide range of actors outside the political boundary. For international actors, the South Asia energy requirements can be addressed in many ways. The ADB is assessing the prospects of importing gas from the Middle East as well as from the Central Asian Republics to South Asia. In all probability, the bilateral hitch of a gas pipeline between India and Pakistan and India and Bangladesh will undoubtedly be resolved with the help of international development agencies.
The World Bank is very ambitious about the cooperation on the eastern Himalayan Rivers. The exclusive brokering of the Indus River between India and Pakistan in 1960 by the World Bank has put its ambition to make such arrangements on the eastern Himalayan Rivers among the riparian states. The Statement made by the Nepal Prime Minister during the 14th SAARC meeting to harness all sources of energy, including hydropower, for the promotion of the welfare of the South Asian people through common endeavours marks the end of Nepal’s moratorium on bilateral water issues with India and may go for implementing large hydro-projects with India.
After the meeting, the leaders agreed to make tangible progress in the next six months on four issues: water (including flood control), energy, food (agriculture), and the environment, which affect the daily lives of South Asians. The leaders decided to work with international agencies to develop and implement viable cross-border regional projects in these four sectors. All these four sectors commonly indicate to the large hydropower structure over international Rivers. While the World Bank can be interested in helping riparian countries in the production of the hydro-power, the ADB will be laying transmission lines to transfer the power throughout South Asia. India’s North East states will probably be the transition point for the energy trade (electricity) within and outside South Asia.
As finance minister of India, Manmohan Singh liberalized India’s economy to the world in early 1990s, now as the Prime Minister of India and Chairman of SAARC meeting, he has opened the SAARC to the World. The expansion of SAARC and the development of external linkages are indicative of the opening of SAARC to the world. India will be on the upper edge of this newfound cooperation in energy, food, and the environment. With solid bilateral energy engagement with the US and China and being a member of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation on Climate and Development, India will take advantage of any energy charter or economic integration in South Asia. A reorientation of foreign policy and diplomatic activity of India appears necessary and imperative for addressing climate change and energy and the environment.