Abstract
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
was set up in 1985 by seven countries of the South Asian region,
namely Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka. With the admission of Afghanistan the membership of
SAARC now stands at eight. Despite recognition of the need by the
member countries for accelerating the process of regional
cooperation for development, SAARC could not achieve much in
the area of trade and economic cooperation. It was due largely to
the existence of bilateral disputes, particularly between Pakistan
and India, that the process of regional cooperation could not make
an appreciable forward movement. However, during the last
about five years, SAARC has displayed signs of vibrancy and
progress in the area of economic integration and trade promotion.
The agreement on establishing a South Asian Free Trade Area
(SAFTA) is an example. The improvement in prospects of
development under SAARC has attracted an increasing number of
states as Observers. In the last (15th) summit meeting of SAARC
held in Colombo in August 2008, nine countries participated as
Observers. This paper tries to look into the factors, which have
encouraged other countries to seek association with SAARC as
Observers. The paper would also discuss what benefits SAARC
could get as a result of participation by a large number of countries
as Observers.
Dr. Rashid Ahmad Khan. (2009) The Role Of Observers In Saarc , IPRI Journal, Volume-09, Issue-2.
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