|
Opening remarks by EAM at the 32nd Session
of SAARC Council of Ministers meeting
27/04/2010
Your Excellency, Chairperson of the Council of Ministers
Your Excellencies, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of SAARC Member
States,
Distinguished delegates
It gives me a great pleasure to be in Thimphu for the 32nd Session
of the SAARC Council of Ministers. My delegation and I are deeply
touched by the warm hospitality accorded to us, and take this
opportunity to thank the Royal Government of Bhutan for the
excellent arrangements made for the visiting delegations. I wish to
congratulate Your Excellency on your election as Chairperson of the
Council of Ministers, and to assure you of my delegation’s fullest
support to you in the fulfillment of your responsibilities and
objectives. We have no doubt that SAARC will record visible gains
under your able stewardship.
I wish to also record our appreciation to Sri Lanka, the outgoing
Chair, for their very able leadership. I wish to take this
opportunity to congratulate the Secretary General, His Excellency
Dr. Sheel Kant Sharma, for most ably guiding and steering SAARC over
the last two years. I thank him and his able staff for the excellent
preparatory work undertaken for the 16th SAARC Summit and its
preceding meetings.
The 16th SAARC Summit is a very special event as Summits go for two
important reasons. This year marks 25 years of the establishment of
SAARC. This is also the first SAARC Summit hosted by Bhutan. We have
no doubt that these unique circumstances will contribute to taking
SAARC to new heights.
It is a matter of satisfaction that starting from a modest level in
1985, our Association has emerged as a model of regional cooperation
in dealing with the wide range of issues that impact directly on the
lives and livelihoods of the people of our region. As the reports
under consideration indicate, SAARC has made impressive gains in
addressing issues of regional concern such as poverty, unemployment,
illiteracy, trafficking in women and children, terrorism and drugs,
etc.
We, as Member States of SAARC, have an abiding obligation to address
the pressing problems that beset our region, which we should set
about achieving through well-defined goals based on mutual
cooperation and understanding. Our effort will be to infuse a fresh
dynamism into the regional processes and to strive to channelise the
fruits of our collective efforts to the most vulnerable sections of
our societies.
As we emerge out of a period of unprecedented global recession into
expectations of relative economic growth and stability, we should
seize the opportunity to advance our collective efforts to enhance
trade, open borders and facilitate economic integration in our
region. Our focus should be on improving regional connectivity
through upgrading trade, transport and telecommunication links;
addressing issues relating to trade facilitation such as
harmonization of customs procedures and standards; increasing
understanding through greater people-to-people contacts,
particularly among the youth, civil society, cultural personalities,
academics and parliamentarians.
In the last few years, SAARC has also begun to lay the institutional
framework for regional cooperation. Regional institutions, in the
form of the South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) in
Dhaka, the SAARC Arbitration Council in Islamabad, the SAARC
Development Fund (SDF) in Thimphu, the South Asian University in New
Delhi, among others, are the building blocks of regional
development.
These and other SAARC initiatives were formalized through
instruments that were signed by our Heads of State and Government
during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth SAARC Summits to advance intra-SAARC
cooperation in these crucial areas. The relevant Agreements pertain
to the Establishment of SARSO, the South Asian University,
Afghanistan’s Accession to SAFTA and Mutual Assistance in Criminal
Matters. While we would urge Member States to expedite the process
of ratification, we may also direct the Secretariat and relevant
SAARC mechanisms to simultaneously operationalise the provisions of
these agreements while awaiting conclusion of the legal processes.
Distinguished delegates will recall that we had undertaken similar
measures in the case of the SAARC Food Bank Board and the SDF.
I am pleased to note that progress has been achieved in the last few
months in facilitating trade in South Asia. Intra-SAARC trade under
SAFTA touched US $ 529 million in 2009, a considerable jump from the
previous two years. Under SAFTA, we agreed in principle to prune our
sensitive lists by twenty per cent. SAARC Member States have also
agreed to reduce tariffs on 30% of tariff lines outside the
Sensitive Lists to Zero.
We are happy to note that two SAARC Agreements, on Environment and
Trade in Services, are to be signed during the Summit. We are also
hopeful that the SAARC Agreements on Motor Vehicles, Railways, Rapid
Response to Natural Disasters, Multilateral Arrangement of
Conformity Assessment Activities of Goods and Services and Regional
MRA on Product Certification will also be finalized at the earliest.
It is a matter of great satisfaction that the SAARC Development Fund
(SDF) Secretariat is being inaugurated in Thimphu during the Summit.
I wish to convey my best wishes to the CEO of the SDF on his
appointment. We would urge Member States to take full advantage of
the mechanism of SDF through expeditious clearance and
implementation of projects and programmes to promote the welfare of
the people of the SAARC region, to improve their quality of life and
to accelerate economic growth, social progress and poverty
alleviation in the region.
We are fully committed to working within SAARC to contribute to the
development of the region through social development and regional
economic integration. In this context, I am happy to report that
regional projects initiated by the Government of India in
Telemedicine, Tele-education, Rain Water Harvesting, Seed Testing
Laboratories and Solar Rural Electrification, are under
implementation in most SAARC Member States.
The “Climate Change” theme of the Summit is very apt. We are happy
to support the proposal of the Chair for a Special SAARC Declaration
on the theme of Climate Change to be issued by the Heads of State /
Government. We also support a fresh SAARC position on Climate Change
for COP 16 in accordance with the UNFCCC principles and Bali Action
Plan. It is my sincere wish that the dialogue on Climate Change is
carried in a meaningful manner at this Summit.
Terrorism poses a serious danger to the economic stability of any
civilized society. The South Asian region is particularly afflicted
by this menace. The time has come for us to rally against the forces
of terrorism that seek to divide and weaken our societies. I extend
a call to my fellow leaders to join hands to fight and defeat
terrorism, including through the early ratification of regional
instruments such as the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal
Matters, signed at the last Summit in 2008, and early conclusion of
the proposed UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism
(CCIT), as directed by our leaders at the 15th SAARC Summit. India,
in cooperation with Sri Lanka, is involved in the strengthening of
the SAARC Terrorists Offences Monitoring Desk and the SAARC Drug
Offences Monitoring Desk for sharing of information amongst our
security forces.
Our member countries have made positive progress towards
establishment of the South Asian University. I am happy to note that
the SAU will start classes in August 2010.
SAARC belongs to the people of South Asia who have ensured that its
focus is delivery oriented and intended for the larger benefit. It
is also an important reason to ensure that that parallel strands of
culture and trade are inter-twined for greater regional synergy and
for economic prosperity. We in India have always attached importance
to facilitating people-to-people contact in our region through
exchanges in the fields of culture, tourism, literature, youth etc.
I am also happy to inform the Council that permanent premises for
the SAARC Museum of Textiles and Handicrafts have been acquired in
New Delhi and work on developing the Museum is progressing as per
plan.
I am grateful to all SAARC Member States for ensuring their
participation in the training programmes that has resulted, not only
in the exchange of knowledge and know how, but also in the cementing
of bonds of friendship among officials, academics, students, and
representatives of civil society. Experiences shared by Member
States at the 30th Session of the Council of Ministers resulted in
the development of ‘Model Villages’ in each of our countries. I am
pleased to inform you that our experience with the model village
cluster has been extremely satisfactory. There have been calls from
the grassroots levels for an expansion of this programme. I look
forward to hearing your experiences on the model village scheme.
I wish to conclude by once again thanking our host for the excellent
arrangements and assuring Your Excellency of India’s consistent
support.
Thank You
New Delhi
April 27, 2010 |
