Regional Integration to Address Poverty and Human Insecurities inSouth Asia: Problems and Prospects for Mainstreaming Asian Integration**

Hossain Md. Shanawez

Abstract

With increasing trends of globalization traditional concept of nation-state
became weaker and regional institutions becoming more and more important even insolving issues which were primarily concern of individual states. Especially, as impact of
globalization spill over boundaries, issues of human insecurities easily become threats forneighboring as well as for countries far behind. So, regional integration strategies getting
more and more priority in international arena as a tool to fight against issues of threats
like poverty and human insecurities as well as sharing and managing global public goods(GPGs). Under this scenario, this paper explores how South Asian nations are addressing
issues of poverty and other common threats to secure life of about one fifth of the world`s
population living here. And analysis shows that, initial focus of South Asian integration
focused on economic integration to achieve sustainable development but with
globalization mere economic growth failed to solve issues of human insecurities as aresult South Asian integration strategies shifted towards social issues. And in spite ofsome success due to conflict over common interest as well as non interference mechanism
in integration mechanisms South Asian integration failed to achieve the targeted goal toreduce poverty and ensure human security. But, various recent initiatives as well as South
Asian and East Asian cooperation initiatives created opportunities of greater integration
to build a `Asian Community`, which will ultimately pave the way of Asian integration.
And, combined integration strategies of South and East Asia will create more
opportunities to address issues of poverty and human insecurities in Asia.



Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Doctoral Degree Program.早稲田大学大学院アジア太平洋研究科博士後期課程** This article is presented in the 1 st Summer Institute organized by Global Institute for Asian Regional Integration (GIARI), under
Waseda University Global COE Program, in 26 th August, 2008.

1

I. Introduction
In the 21st century, it is clear that many problems concerning human survival
and/or national development require state cooperation at the regional level. Thus, regional
integration functions as an appropriate organizing unit for international cooperation. In
other words, regionalism can be seen as possessing an intermediary role between
narrowly-defined nationalism and overly-broad globalism. From an economic perspective,
some writers refer to attempts to use regionalism as a mechanism to build new institutions
which transcend the nation-state in economic contexts as a “strategy of size” built aroundnotions of economic power and economies of scale.1
Along with the globalization process, countries are increasing their regional
economic links through Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), Regional Free Trade Areas(FTAs) etc. And thus success of regional integration is evident more in economic sector
than any other sectors. But with increasing globalization countries are becoming more andmore interrelated in social issues besides economic matters. Success in solving crossbroader problems and sharing of public goods requires more integration among countries
of similar geographical locations. Especially, in fighting issues related to common threats
like poverty and human insecurities requires increasing integration among regional level.
Thus, regional integration became an important policy dilemma that is to be addressed bypolicy makers, politicians, and other social scientists besides economists. And integration
can bring more success for developing and underdeveloped countries as their combined
effort can not only enhance their efforts among regional level but also it can increase theirbargaining power in international arena.
Under this scenario the main aim of this paper is to assess trends of problems and

1 Palan, R. P., Abbott, J. P. and Deans, P. (1999), State Strategies in the Global Economy, London: Pinter.

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prospects of regional integration strategies to fight against issues related to poverty andhuman insecurities in South Asia. Basically it tries to analyze how South Asiandeveloping countries are taking combined economic, social and policy measures to attaintheir common goal of poverty free and peaceful South Asia. It also tries to analyze howthese South Asian efforts enhancing strategies to create opportunities for broader Asian
Integration. And to achieve these objectives the main research questions addressed are:
1. What are the general trends of poverty & human security in South Asia?
2. What are the various regional integration mechanisms to address poverty and
Human insecurities in South Asia?
3. What are the problems and prospects of South Asian integration with East
Asia to mainstream Asian Integration?
To achieve objectives these questions are addressed by dividing the discussion inthree main parts. Besides explaining main terminologies first part gives description ofSouth Asia considering its diversities and similarities. With this general backgroundsecond part discusses trends and sources of poverty and human insecurities in South Asia;and how regional economic and social approaches are addressing these issues are the main
points of discussion in the third part. Finally, fourth part tries to discuss possibility ofmainstreaming Asian integration by increasing integration between South Asia and East
Asia.

II. Definition of Main Terminologies(a) Regional integration or Regionalism
The term regionalism or regional integration can be viewed in a multi dimensional
point of view. Even a cursory examination of relevant social science literature reveals a3multiplicity of definitions of the term regionalism. Again, depending on the point of view,
regionalism can be seen to satisfy a wide range of social, economic, environmental andgeopolitical functions.
Regionalism has often been taken to be synonymous with economic regionalism (forexample, Ravenhill, 1995) 2. Much of the early regionalism debate, in particular, appears tohave been predicated on the belief that the economic dimension of regionalism ispre-eminent. Second, this privileging of the economic was taken to be non-controversial
and was in turn linked to a view that regionalism was uni-dimensional. However, it isclear that there is a wide variety of perspectives on regionalism and that the concept
cannot be simply conceptualized in economic terms:
Regionalism may be defined as sustained cooperation, formal or informal, among
governments, nongovernment organizations or the private sector in three or more
contiguous countries for mutual gain (Alagappa, 1994, 158)3.
So, according to this definition the ultimate goal of regionalism or regional integrationis creating a win-win situation where various actors will cooperate with each other either
politically or non-politically.
But most of the definitions of regional integration as a process where political forces
play the major role to pave way of cooperation among various public and private entities.
Regionalism refers to the political structures that both reflect and shape the strategies
of governments, business corporations and a variety of non-governmentalorganizations and social movements (Katzenstein, 2000, 354)4.
So, though there are lot of variation about definition and actors of regional integration
2

Ravenhill, J. (1995), „Competing logics of regionalism in the Asia-Pacific‟, Journal of European Integration,28 (2−3), pp. 179−199.

3

Alagappa, M. (1994), „Regionalism and conflict management: a framework for analysis‟, Review of International

Studies, Vol. 21, pp. 359−387.
4Katzenstein, P. J. (2000), „Regionalism and Asia‟, New Political Economy, Vol. 5 (3), pp. 353−368.

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it seems there is little variation about its ultimate goal of achieving mutual gain.
(b) Human Security
The term `Human Security` is also yet debatable in terms of its definition as wellas its contents. Human development report 1994 by UNDP is the first to make specificclaim that individual should be the referent of security instead of the states since state‟ssecurity has become less vulnerable while that of individuals suffers even by their own
state. Consequently, it proposes human security in terms of the safeguards against “thethreat of global poverty traveling across international borders in the form of drugs,
HIV/AIDS, climate change, illegal migration and terrorism” (UNDP 1994, p. 24) 5. The
concept of human security, as UNDP develops, is built on four essential characteristics:
universalism, interdependence of components, prevention rather than protection, andcentered on people.
The UNDP report identifies seven potential sources of threats that include most, but
not necessarily all, aspects of human security: economic security, food security, healthsecurity, environmental security, personal security, communal security and politicalsecurity (UNDP 1994:25-33). The final argument of the report is that the root causes of
threats to human security lies in the structural context of societies that provoke conflict,such as poverty, resource scarcity, low level of economic growth, inequitable development,
and the impact of structural adjustment (Kong and MacFarlane, 2006:152) 6. And the basic
difference between traditional security and human security concept is that human security
covers wider range of variables and strategies to address these variables also require
multiple players. And in many cases it requires combined effort in the regional level as

5United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 1994 (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).

6

Kong, Y. F. and S. N. MacFarlane, Human Security and the UN: A Critical History (Indiana University Press, 2006).

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many problems goes beyond border. So, regional integration and cooperation haveimportant role to play to make human being more secured by taking approaches to addresscauses of human insecurities. And in South Asia regional cooperation is playing importantrole and also have wider scope to play to make secured life for about one fifth of theworld`s people living in this region in various threats of insecurities.

III. Poverty and Human Insecurities in South Asia-Sources and Trends
The South Asian region (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) is notable for its large and rapidly growing population (more than
one-fifth of the world total). Despite rapid economic growth during the 1990s, the nationsin the region have the lowest per capita incomes in the world. Having more than 22 percent of the world's population living on only 3.8 per cent of the total land area of the world,
it is home for more than half a billion poor people, or 40 per cent of world's poor. 7 Its
shares of world GNP and purchasing power are very small (around 2 per cent and 7 per
cent, respectively). Its share in total world trade is even smaller, only about one percent. 8
But recently South Asia has been the second fastest growing region in the world. From1981 and 2001 there had been a marked improvement; the proportion of the extreme poor
has gone down from 52 percent to 31 percent. Although this is not as significant as it is in
East Asia, where the proportion plummeted from 58 percent to 15 percent, it wasnevertheless a significant achievement for the region.9
There are more than One Billion people living in South Asia today. The annual per
capita expenditure on human priority areas of basic education, primary health care, family

7

IMF, The World Economic Outlook - 2005, International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C., April 2005,Table 1.7, P. 33.

8Bandara and McGillivray, 1998 and Panagariya, 1999 for an overview of trade reforms in the region.
Supra 39

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planning, safe drinking water, and nutritional programs is just $3 in Pakistan and $2
dollars in Bangladesh. To put this in perspective one might compare to other Asian nations
such as Malaysia ($123) and Korea ($133).10 South Asia' share in global income is only
2%. However we have found a way to share in 20% of global arms imports. In Pakistan,soldiers outnumber doctors by 10 to 1 (ibid.).
The concept of human security has acquired increasing centrality and urgency forSouth Asia (Human Development in South Asia, 2005:7).Continuing political tensions
between two nuclear power of the region, recent food crisis as well as growing
environmental disasters due to climate change have brought the need to look deeply into
this concept and to connect its relevance to South Asia‟s socio-economic and politicalissues.
Again various national, regional and international measures and strategies are taken totransform changes in economic arena into social life of the people. Thus, in 21 st century,
South Asia is in a period of transition as it strives to implement effective economic,
political, social, and legal structures to support sustained growth. The Donor community
has prescribed such measures as cuts in subsidies (especially energy subsidies),
deregulation, anti-poverty efforts, and increased privatization in may South Asian
countries to address huge poverty and multi dimensional causes of human in securities inthis region. At the same time in the regional level countries are taking various public andprivate economical, social and political measures to address these issues.

10

http://www.yespakistan.com/hdf/whywedoit/hdinsa.asp Accessed: 15th September, 2008.

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IV. Regional Integration Strategies to address Poverty and Human
Insecurities in South Asia
The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia had come under discussion longtime before at three conferences: the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi in April
1947, the Baguio Conference in the Philippines in May 1950, and the Colombo Powers
Conference in April 1954. However, the idea did not take root with the leadership of theregion until President Zia-ur-Rehman of Bangladesh shared his „Working paper on
Regional Cooperation in South Asia‟ with the heads of states of South Asia in November
1980. A variety of reasons contributed to the success of President Zia ur-Rehman‟sinitiative. (IISD, 2007: 16).11
And most of the earlier regional integration strategies mainly focused on
economic integration strategies as it is believed economic growth will be the engine ofdevelopment. It is increasingly believed that the regional economic integration can be
instrumental for investment and thereby economic growth for the member countries. But,
with globalization, increased income and non-income inequalities within and among
countries in the region, competition for global public goods (GPGs), cross border threats
like contagious diseases, natural calamities as well as border disputes became the major
issues for mutual economic cooperation among South Asian countries. And thus social
issues became the determinant factor even for economic cooperation. As a result earlier
economic concentrated regional cooperation issues became multi dimensional focusing
mainly on social issues with issues related to poverty and human insecurities getting
higher priority. However, more importantly broad and diversed integrated approaches and

11

IISD, 2007, Regional Integration, Trade and Conflict in South Asia, International Institute for Sustainable development, Cana da, p.
16. Available in http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/tas_rta_south_asia.pdf

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programs are required to address issues of domestic as well as external sectors so as toreap the fruits of regionalization.

4.1 Regional Economic Cooperation in South Asia to Fight Poverty and
Human Insecurities
Institutionalized regional Economic cooperation in South Asia has started mainlywith the establishment of SAARC in 1985. Since its inception regional cooperation has
further advanced and extended especially in preferential trade areas (PTAs), free tradeareas (FTAs), and other economic measures. However, with time SAARC has to takevarious strategies of regional cooperation to address social issues. And thus in spite of
emergence of number of regional institutions still SAARC remain the main institution toaddress issues related to economic and social insecurities in South Asia.
4.1.1 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
The establishment of SAARC in South Asia aimed to bring stability to South Asia byenhancing regional cooperation. SAARC was the first formal initiative that sought to bringthe countries of South Asia to the same platform with the aim of promoting the welfare
and quality of life of its people through accelerated economic growth, social progress andcultural development in the region. In addition, SAARC aims to strengthen cooperation ofmember countries with other developing countries, to strengthen cooperation among themember countries in international forums on matters of common interests and to cooperatewith international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes.12 With
original 7 member countries of establishment period Afghanistan joined SAARC as thenewest member during the fourteenth summit held in New Delhi in the year 2007. The

12

SAARC secretariat available in http://www.saarc-sec.org/main.php Accessed 18th September, 2008.

9past two decades have witnessed the evolving of SAARC into a fraternity that promotes
joint venture and collaboration.
The objectives of the SAARC as mentioned in the SAARC Charter are as follows: 13– Promoting the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their qualityof life,– Accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development in theregion and to provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and torealize their full potential,– Promoting and strengthening collective self-reliance among the countries ofSouth Asia,– Contributing to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's
problems,– Promoting active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social,
cultural, technical and scientific fields,– Strengthening cooperation among themselves in international forums on mattersof common interests, and– Cooperating with international and regional organizations with similar aims andpurposes.
At the inception of the Association, the Integrated Programme of Action (IPA)
consisting of a number of Technical Committees (TCs) was identified as the core areas ofcooperation. The current areas of cooperation under the reconstituted Regional IPA,
pursued through the Technical Committees, cover Agriculture and Rural Development,
Health and Population Activities, Women, Youth and Children, Environment and Forestry,

13

SAARC Secretariat, SAARC - A Profile, SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu, July 2003, pp. 2-3.

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Science and Technology and Meteorology, Human Resources Development and Transport.
In more recent times, high-level Working Groups have also been established to strengthen
cooperation in the areas of Information and Communications Technology, Biotechnology,
Intellectual Property Rights, Tourism, and Energy. 14
While the charter of SAARC promotes active collaboration and mutual assistancein the economic, social, cultural, technical and scientific fields, the main thrust of regional
efforts has been directed towards economic integration. South Asian leaders recognizedthat opening their economies to trade and investment, especially with neighboring
countries, could lay the groundwork for bringing peace reducing poverty and addressing
issues of human insecurities in South Asia.
4.1.2 South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA)
There have been strong arguments for the creation of regional economic
integration in South Asia which generate significant interregional trade and welfare gains
for the South Asian countries. The first step in this direction came in 1995 when The
South Asia Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) signed. SAPTA was a parallel
initiative to the multilateral trade liberalization commitments of SAARC member
countries which signed in 2004 with the aim of reducing tariffs for interregional trade
among the SAARC members.
The agreement included several provisions giving special treatment to Least
Developed Countries (LDCs). For instance, support to LDCs involved the identification,
preparation and establishment of industrial and agricultural projects in their territories,
which could provide the production base for exports to other contracting states. SAPTA
also contained anti-dumping clauses which suspended concessions to the perpetrators of
14

SAARC Social Charter, Sri Lanka Action Plan 2008-2015 . Available in
http://www.slmfa.gov.lk/saarc/images/stories/saarc/Sri_Lanka_Action_Plan.pdf Accessed 10th September, 2008.

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such dumping. The intent behind such measures was to ensure fair trade for all member
states, and eliminate potential conflicts/tensions between member states based on skewed
economic power relations.
Despite the inclusion of these measures SAPTA proved to be structurally weak inaddressing trade-related disputes. This was most likely in recognition of the fact that themore powerful member states would not agree to embed rules-based institutional and legal
mechanisms for dispute settlement. So, besides SAPTA, SARRC initiated other economic
cooperation mechanisms in South Asian region.
4.1.3 South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)SAFTA came into force on 1st January 2006 and is the most comprehensive
mechanism that strives towards intra-SAARC economic cooperation. In contrast to
SAPTA, SAFTA has a well-defined approach to trade liberalization. It specifies
time-staggered tariff reductions for each member country. Thus, India and Pakistan, twomain economic power of this region are mandated to reduce tariffs from existing levels to
20 percent within two years effective from January 2006. Subsequently, they are to comedown to 0-5 percent from 2008 to 2013. For LDC members, the tariff reduction schedule
is more flexible.15
Besides, SAFTA also addresses a broader range of trade related issues, such as
the harmonization of standards and certification, customs clearance procedures andclassification, transit and transport facilitation, rules for fair competition and foreignexchange liberalization. SAFTA‟s dispute settlement mechanism is substantively similar
to SAPTA – if anything there are more tiers of consultations, involving a Committee ofExperts (COE) and the SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC). However, much as in the case15

http://www.saarc-sec.org/main.php?id=12&t=2.1 Accessed 15th September, 2008.

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of SAPTA, no institutional or legal mechanisms for dispute settlement exist and both the
COE and the SMC will continue to devise procedures on a case-by-case basis.
4.1.4 SAARC FINANCE
The 24th Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers held in Islamabad during
January 2-3, 2004 recommended the establishment of SAARC FINANCE to examine theconcept of a South Asian Development Bank (SADB) and to study and makerecommendations on early and eventual realization of a South Asian Economic Union(SAEU).16 The basic objective of establishing the SAARCFINANCE Network is to shareexperiences on macro-economic policy issues among member countries of the region. And
other broad objectives include: promotion of regional cooperation among central banks,
harmonization of banking legislations and practices within the region, to forge closer
cooperation on macro-economic policies of SAARC member countries and to shareexperiences and ideas.

4.2 South Asian Regional Initiatives to fight Poverty
Poverty Alleviation has been an over arching goal for SAARC. Ironically South
Asia is home to almost half of the world's poor. Global economic slowdown, soaring oil
and food prices and growing threats of climate change are driving the destitute people of
the region even further below the poverty line. Recognizing that the problem of poverty inSouth Asia needs to be tackled from a multi-dimensional aspect and agreeing that a
focused and action-oriented plan is the need of the hour, South Asian regions have taken
various public and private initiatives to fight against poverty.

16

SAPTA, SAFTA and Beyond, Hem Prasad Neupane13

As first stronger step, the SAARC Leaders at their Sixth Summit (Colombo, 1991)
established an Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA).
The Commission reporting to the Seventh Summit (Dhaka, 1993) provided a radical
conceptual framework for poverty alleviation through social mobilization andempowerment in South Asia. The Seventh Summit welcomed the report and expressed its
commitment to eradicate poverty from South Asia through an agenda of action which
would, inter-alia, include a strategy of social mobilization, and a policy of decentralized
agriculturaldevelopment,

villagereawakening,small-scalelabour-intensive

industrialization and human development. The Summit also stressed that within theconceptual approach of "Dhal-Bhaat (Beans-Rice)17 ," the right to work and primaryeducation should receive priority18.
The Eighth SAARC Summit (New Delhi, 1995) approved the establishment of athree-tier mechanism for dealing with poverty issues. The first-tier comprises the
Secretaries to the governments concerned with poverty eradication and social development
in SAARC countries. The second-tier comprises Finance/Planning Secretaries and thethird-tier comprises Finance/Planning Ministers.
The Tenth SAARC Summit in Colombo (July 1998) noted that human resources
development is a key element in any poverty eradication programme. The Summit thus
directed the SAARC Human Resources Development Centre in Islamabad to look into thepossibility of its contributing to the strengthening of the human resources development
component of regional poverty eradication programmes.
During the Eleventh Summit, the Leaders viewed that widespread and debilitating
poverty continued to be the most formidable developmental challenge for the region. The
17
18

A programme taken to ensure minimum food requirement of providing rice and beans for all the citizens of South Asia.
http://www.sdc.gov.in/AboutSAARC/poverty.htm Accessed, 15th september, 2008.

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Leaders made a review of the SAARC activities aimed at poverty alleviation and decided
to reinvigorate them in the context of the regional and global commitments to poverty
reduction. They expressed their firm resolve to combat the problem of poverty with a newsense of urgency by actively promoting the synergetic partnership among national
governments, international agencies, the private sector and the civil society. They also
agreed to take immediate steps for the effective implementation of the programs for social
mobilization and decentralization, and for strengthening institution building and support
mechanisms to ensure participation of the poor, both as stake-holders and beneficiaries, ingovernance and the development process.
At the 12th summit, the Leaders declared poverty alleviation as the overarchinggoal of all SAARC activities. The reconstituted ISACPA submitted its Report- Our Future
Our Responsibility to the 12th Summit. The Summit commended the work done by theCommission and decided that ISACPA should continue its advocacy role and it should
prepare and submit to the next Summit a comprehensive and realistic blue-print setting out
SAARC Development Goals (SDGS) for the next five years in the areas of poverty
alleviation, education, health and environment giving due regard, among others, to thesuggestions made in the ISACPA Report.
Accordingly, ISACPA identified 22 regional goals as the SAARC Development
Goals (SDGs) and submitted those to the Thirteenth Summit. The Twenty-sixth Session of
the Council of Ministers (Dhaka, 11 November 2005) advised that the Commission may
further recommended that the ISACPA may continue its advisory and advocacy role andadvised that the Commission may further elaborate the SDGs.
As to ensure funding to implement SDGs in 2007 SAARC Development Fund(SDF) was established. The SDF was created as the SAARC members pledged to support
15

projects to alleviate poverty and improve status of life in the region. The SDF has beenreconstituted with a permanent secretariat and three windows -- social, economic, andinfrastructure. The social window, with an initial $300 million fund, is expected to fund,among others, poverty alleviation programmes and projects 19.
Thus by all these regional mechanisms the SAARC countries, united in theirdetermination to reduce poverty, drawing upon the experience of the member countries
and committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

4.3 SAARC Food BankThe establishment of the SAARC Food Bank in 2007 was an extremely forward
looking decision to address the food crisis in South Asia in an integrated way. It would
store more than 250,000 metric tons (MT) of stock for distribution in case of a particular
scarcity within the South Asian region, should be immediately operationalised. The Food
Bank would act as a regional food security reserve for the SAARC member countries
during normal time food shortages and emergencies; and provide regional support tonational food security efforts; foster inter-country partnerships and regional integration,and solve regional food shortages through collective action 20. For using the food from the
SAARC Food Bank, the member countries will not have to pay anything. The country
taking food loon from SAARC Food Bank will have to just return the food to the storage
after the crisis is over. With the set up of a food bank in the region, it is expected toincrease food production, encourage investment in agriculture and agro-based industries,
agricultural research and prevention of soil health degradation, development and sharingof agriculture technologies, and management of climatic and disease-related risks in
19
20

SAARC plan of Action for Poverty Alleviation (SAARC, 2004 Kathmandu Nepal)
http://www.saarc-sec.org/main.php?t=2.13.2 Accessed 15th September, 2008.

16

agriculture.21

4.4 SAARC Regional Initiatives to Address Climate Change
In the concluding Declaration of 15th SAARC Summit, 2008, entitled“Partnership for Growth for Our People,” the heads of state and government reiterate theneed for increased regional cooperation in tackling climate change, in particular forcapacity building, the development of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects,
and awareness.22 Noting the impact of climate change on livelihoods, SAARC leadersstress the urgency to take action jointly, and manage its risks and impacts, and call for astudy on the human dimension of climate change. As an equitable basis for tacklingclimate change, they endorse per capita emissions targets for developing and developed
countries, taking into account historical responsibility and country capabilities. In the
Dhaka Declaration-on climate change on July 1-2, 2008 SAARC members havecommitted themselves to promote programmes for advocacy and awareness of climatechange and to inculcate habits towards a low-carbon society, including incorporation ofscience-based educational material in educational curricula. The action plan, covering
2009-2011, focuses on seven thematic areas- from adaptation of climate change toregional stance for international negotiations. It emphasizes on policies and action forclimate change mitigation, technology transfer, financing and investment mechanism,education, training and awareness, monitoring, assessment and management of impact andrisks due to climate change.
On energy, the Heads of State and Government recognize the need to: develop
and conserve conventional sources of energy; build up renewable energy resources; and21

22

The Bhutanese prime minister, Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley available e
http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10940 Accessed 15th September, 2008
http://www.climate-l.org/2008/08/fifteenth-saarc.html Accessed 15th September, 2008.

17

introduce energy reforms, energy efficiency and the trade and sharing of technology, while
they note current efforts to strengthen regional cooperation in this sector.

V. Peace and Regional Integration in South Asia: an analysis
The spontaneous Indo-Pakistan tensions have put a damper on any kind ofactivities to increase the pace of economic and social integration and bring about peace inthe region. But the "composite dialogue" between India and Pakistan over the past years
has led to the opening of bus and railway services, and dialogue over strategic issues on
Siachen, Sir Creek and the future of divided Kashmir considered key areas of cooperation
more openly than before.
History shows that regional economic and social integration strategies can be
successful only if the countries concerned establish a commonality of political purpose.
France and Germany who fought three wars between 1871 and 1945 was able to thaw
differences through EEC. The Cold War gave western European nations another urgent
reason to bind economically together to gain strategic strength. The same pattern isevident in the ASEAN, which was formed as a political grouping to oppose threat ofCommunist expansion from Vietnam and China. It is a common phenomenon ininternational relations that a small neighbor had to live under fear when its large neighborhas „expansionist‟ policy and there are unresolved and complicating factors in theirrelations. This is particularly true in the case of South Asia as India continuously showed
her hegemony towards her small neighbors rather than being regarded as „Big Brother‟.
Bhutan and Nepal are continuously living under this threat of becoming next Sikkim 23. To
create a sense of „easiness‟ among her neighbor, the former Indian Prime Minister I K

23Sikkim used to be a small state in North eastern part of India, which was ceded into it by force.

18

Gujral adopted a doctrine called „Gujral Doctrine‟24 as a tool of conflict management in
the region. 25
In spite of various regional mechanisms still there are lots of issues in South Asia
due to which there are lot of disputes among many member states. And thus, there are
growing concern that regionalism in South Asia might end up as Pandora‟s box ifconcerned efforts are not made beyond the turmoil of political exigencies. It is felt thatunless countries of this region enjoy considerable political harmony, they cannot possibly
agree on concessions like surrendering sovereignty over their economic and social policy.
This is particularly true in South Asia where Indian economy dominated overall regional
outcomes.26 So, although economic cooperation and even integration is very desirable inSouth Asia there is a call for creating a politically harmonious subcontinent, which is anextremely formidable task.
After 2006 so many things changed and now South Asia begins to think immense
about itself as a region. The proposal to set up a South Asian University is the best
example, since it would require nothing short of $1 billion to do so. 27 The business
community is thinking even further ahead of the governments in the region. In anticipationof SAFTA, the TATA group of India has already proposed a $3 billion investment in
Bangladesh in gas-based fertilizer, power and steel plants. The reconstituted Independent
24

The Gujral Doctrine is a set of five principles to guide the conduct of foreign relations with India‟s immediate neighbours These

principles are: first, with neighbours like Bangladesh, Bhutan,Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, India does not ask for reciprocity, but
gives and accommodates what it can in good faith and trust; second, no South Asian country should allow its territory to be used against
the interest of another country of the region; third, no country should interfere in the internal affairs of another; fourth, all South Asian
countries must respect each other‟s territorial integrity and sovereignty; and, finally, they should settle all their disputes throughpeaceful bilateral negotiations.
25

Padma Murthy, The Gujral Doctrine and Beyond, Strategic Analysis; A monthly Journal of the IDSA, July 1999 (Vol. XXIII No. 4).

26

Ghanshyam N. Singh (ed), The Economy of the SAARC Nations, (New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1993).

27

Supra 319

South Asia Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISCAPA) has adopted a more reasonableapproach by suggesting a 24-point approach for halving poverty in South Asia by 2010, as
opposed to MDG of the UNDP that requires South Asia to do so by 2015. 28 After years of
discussion, and, to some extent, a large degree of negligence, the South AsianDevelopment Fund is also making some headway, with assets amounting to around$300,000,000. 29 South Asia receives around $32 billion annually in remittances, byexporting labor to the Gulf region and the East and Southeast Asian countries. 30 In
Pakistan, remittance increased fourfold, from just over $1 billion in 2001 to over $4
billion in 2003; in Bangladesh, it increased from $1.9 to $3.3 billion; in India, it increased
from $12 to $21.7 billion, and Nepal receives $1.5 billion. 31 From 12 June, 2008 India
Bangladesh railway service has restored, though bus services exist between the countries
from 1996. Thus in spite of multi dimensional problems and conflicts related to mutualinterests South Asian countries are cooperating with each other through various
integration mechanisms to promote peace to make their life secured.

VI. Problems and Prospects of South Asian and East Asian Integration
to Mainstream Asian Integration
As part of its initiative to liberalize trade, investment, and capital flows, South
Asia is gradually forging closer ties, both with its immediate neighbors and with the East
and Central Asian countries (ADB, 2006:5)32. The rapid growth of large emerging market
economies such as the People‟s Republic of China (PRC) and India have brought theSouth Asia and East Asian economies ever closer together.
28

ibid
bid
30
World Bank's Global Economic Prospect report for 2006.
31
Supra 332
Asian Development Bank, 2006. Asian Development outlook : 2005. P.5
29

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East Asia has advanced the most in pursuing regional economic cooperation andintegration. Regional integration in the form of economic cooperation and politicalharmony are mutually reinforcing. ASEAN+3, APEC and ASEM in Asia have led to
improved

relations

between

East

Asian

countries.

Without

regionalism

andinter-regionalism, Japan‟s relations with its neighbors would have been even more
problematic, and regional as well as interregional forums have provided the framework forpersonal meetings between Japanese ministers and their Chinese and South Koreancounterparts, which would not have been possible on the bilateral level. 33 The success of
the EU has demonstrated that regionalism, even on such a wide scale, can be instrumental
in overcoming historical animosities, embedding democracy and the rule of law, thus
guaranteeing regional security and leading to overall stability. Economic integration has
come to be regarded as an important tool for diplomacy and conflict mitigation.
Compare to East Asia, regional integration initiatives are less comprehensive inother parts of Asia. But recently it poised to accelerate. Especially, recent economic
growth in South Asia has initiated various strategies to integrate South Asia with East
Asia, which is promoting overall Asian integration.
SAARC has included Afghanistan as its 8th members. Besides, China, Japan,
South Korea, Myanmar, European Union, USA, Iran and Mauritius were given observer
status. This expansion of SAARC from an intra regional organization to inter regionalorganization and developing external linkages are indicative of the high level of maturity
that SAARC has achieved as an organization. And it is enhancing the greater Asian
Integration especially bridging the regional cooperation gap with the East Asian countries,
which are playing very important role to address the issue of poverty and human33

Interregionalism: A New Diplomatic Tool, The European Experience with East – Asia by Dr. Michael Reiterer

21

insecurities in South Asia. Again, such integrating and merging of smaller regional
cooperation organizations within Asia will be helpful to reduce regional gaps in different
economic and social aspects which will ultimately paves the way to create `Asian
Community` to mainstream Asian Integration. Such efforts of mutual cooperation will befavorable for Asian growing and leading economy in the global level which will combined
enhance Asia`s bargaining power as a region in the international arena.
As an initiative to mainstream South Asian integration with East Asia and beyond,international players can increase and contribute to peaceful relations within the region by
mitigating the impacts that economic globalization will have on the region‟s marginalized
communities that reside within conflict prone areas. The international community canremedy market failures; it would be naïve to recommend a succinct list of initiatives thatwould have, with some certitude, a positive impact on mitigating conflict within South
Asia. Rather, the international community should continue to engage with all stakeholders
in South Asia in a manner that elevates development to include not just economic needs
but also social, cultural and religious values intrinsic to the region.

VII. Discussion and Conclusion
During SAARC‟s inception, South Asian leaders realized that political relations onregional integration could stall regional economic cooperation. Consequently, bilateralissues were kept out of SAARC‟s purview to prevent political tensions between members
from stalling the initiative. Today, the absence of recourse to deliberate upon bilateralpolitical relations has become a major concern for member states. Realizing the negative
impact of political tensions on trade arrangements in the region, some analysts have called
for a regional institutional mechanism to contain conflict among members. Others have22even suggested the need to amend the SAARC charter to allow it to deliberate uponbilateral issues. As early as 1990, Ariyasinghe had proposed a „strategic regional security
framework‟ designed to ensure regional security in South Asia. No progress has been
made on this front, and realistically such a development is not on the cards any time soon.
Member states, particularly Pakistan and India, must find means outside of the SAARC
arrangement to resolve their differences.
While lessons from the EU and ASEAN prove the benefits of regional integration,
there is still a need to shape institutions that, as commentators indicate, are asked tocompete and yet cooperate in the neo-liberal political economy (Mukherjee Reed 1997).
Durable peace must therefore include the resolution of domestic and long-standing
differences. Growth of economic integration will depend on how individual nations deal
with contentious issues and remain committed to regional cooperation. Peace also needs toinclude resolution of the Kashmir issue, border problems, and distribution of natural
resources and of the corrosive politics that divides Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist
along with the other religious minorities.
Beneath the political colorations of South Asia, reside the socio economic
aspirations of its middle class. Some argue that in order for the region to prosper, a new
idea of South Asia will have to emerge and the primary driver will have to be theaspirations of the middle class for something more than private affluence in the midst of
public squalor. Hence, social capital building that challenges all of the region‟s societies
and effective collective action within and then across will be the test of whether or not thissociety emerges (Singh 2005)34. Other informal political dialogues need to include citizen

34

Singh, N., 2005, The Idea of South Asia and the Role of the Middle Class, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New

Delhi.

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to citizen contact, which addresses displaced persons following partition (East Bangladesh
and West Bengal, the Two Punjabs) and the social and religious values of being able tovisit ones homeland, place of birth and ancestral grave sites. Education and cultural
exchange should include students, writers, intellectuals and artists to be able to mix andexchange ideas on a new South Asia.
Though there are lots of hopes and success of economic and social integration
strategies within and beyond South Asia, still there is lot of disputed issues that needs toaddress properly. Specially, regional mechanisms must have to be strengthened to address
issues like geopolitical disputes, climate change, contiguous diseases (SARS, bird flu,
HIV/AIDS, etc.), food shortage etc. At the same time initiatives must have to taken toextend integration initiatives at first in continental level, specifically inclusion with East
Asian region, which is playing important role in the economic and social development ofSouth Asia. At the same time strategies and policies to fight poverty and humaninsecurities in South Asia must have to be in line with global targets and strategies so thatit becomes easy to monitor and evaluate at the same time with regional and global levels.
But with emergence of increasing regional and global integration strategies it must have toremember that it is the South Asian region whose strategies should have to come first toaddress issues of poverty and human insecurities. And extending regional integration
beyond South Asian level will enhance their initiatives and commitment in this regard. So,
measures should have to be taken to integrate South Asia with East Asia. And combined
effort of these two parts of Asia will promote Asian integration with the aim of creating an`Asian Community`.

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