Common SAARC stand at global climate forums

Thimphu, 29 April, 2010 (SANS Correspondent):

  

The South Asian leaders on Thursday 29 April concluded their 16th summit with a pledge to work for removing the ‘trust deficit’ between states in the region to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of 1.6 billion people.
   They adopted a 37-point ‘Thimphu Silver Jubilee Declaration’ with a pledge to take the views, for the first time in the SAARC’s 25 years of existence, of eminent citizens of the region while charting the future course of the grouping for turning it into a truly action-oriented association.
   The leaders also adopted the ‘Thimphu Statement on Climate Change’ for developing an inter-governmental mechanism in order to take a common stand at global climate negotiations on greenhouse gas cuts and adaptation, and also take initiatives at regional, sub-regional and national levels for water management and conservation of nature.
   ‘We have resolved that we must remove the trust deficit between and among the states in South Asia to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of 1.6 billion people,’ the new SAARC chair, Bhutan’s prime minister Lyonchhen Jigme Y Thinley said at a press conference at the end of the April 28-29 summit.
   With intra-SAARC trade touching $670 million, the eight member countries signed a SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services, which is expected to accelerate regional collaboration in diverse areas like health, hospitality, communications, computer and information services and air transport.
   The countries also signed a SAARC Convention on Cooperation on Environment to promote cooperation in the region in the field of environment and sustainable development. The scope for cooperation under the convention would extend to exchange of the best practices and knowledge, capacity building and transfer of eco-friendly technology in a number of areas, including climate change, coastal zone management, wildlife conservation and environmental impact assessment studies.
   The Bhutanese prime minister presided over the concluding session of the 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation at the Grand Assembly Hall in Thimphu in presence of other seven other South Asian leaders – Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, the Maldives’ president Mohamed Nasheed, Nepal’s prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Pakistan prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The foreign ministers of the region signed the two agreements in presence of the top regional leaders.
   The regional leaders appreciated that all the member states were now pursuing multi-party democracy and asked the SAARC secretariat to convene a ‘Conclave of SAARC Parliamentarians’ in line with the SAARC Charter to face the challenges in ensuring effective, efficient, transparent and accountable government for their peoples.
   The summit felt the necessity to develop a ‘vision statement’ taking inputs from eminent personalities, including teachers, scientists and professionals of the region for a holistic approach for charting the future course of the regional grouping. They agreed to form a ‘South Asia Forum’ for generating debates and exchanging ideas on the future of South Asia.
   The regional leaders also called for making SAARC a truly action-oriented grouping by implementing its declarations and decisions and operating instruments to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of 1.6 billion people in the region.
   They appreciated Bhutan’s concept of Gross National Happiness for its focus on people-oriented development, and welcomed her offer to host a SAARC Workshop on GNH in 2010.
   On climate change, they called for initiating a process to formulate a common SAARC position for COP16 to be held in Mexico later this year, including on issues such as separate financing for adaptation and mitigation as well as technology transfer.
   The leaders called for focus to be laid upon water management and conservation and development of cooperative projects at regional level in terms of exchange of best practices and knowledge, capacity building and transfer of eco-friendly technologies.
   Expressing deep concern at the environmental degradation in the region, they reiterated the importance of development through adoption of eco-friendly technologies so that South Asia should become a world leader in low-carbon technology and renewable energies.
   The leaders recognised the need to enhance cooperation in the energy sector to facilitate energy trade, development of efficient conventional and renewable energy sources, including hydro-power.
   A proposal from India for preparing a roadmap aimed at developing a SAARC Market for Electricity on a regional basis was noted, as SAARC is considering electricity trading.
   The leaders recognised the importance of development of communication systems and transport infrastructures, including transit facilities, especially for landlocked countries, to promote intra-SAARC trade.
   The leaders called for collaborative efforts to achieve greater intra-regional connectivity and endorsed the recommendation for declaring 2010-2020 as the Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC. They agreed on the need to expedite negotiations with a view to finalising the two agreements on motor vehicles and railways.
   The leaders called for early consideration of the concept of a regional seed bank, regional testing and certification of seeds and framework for transfer of plant genetic material and seeds.
   In the field of education, they underscored that it was imperative to recognise degrees, and where possible facilitation of credit transfer for open and distance education. They directed expeditious finalisation of mutual recognition of academic and professional degrees for harmonisation of the educational curricula in South Asia.
   The leaders expressed their firm resolve to root out terrorism. They emphasised that the links between terrorism, trafficking in drugs, persons and firearms all continue to remain a matter of serious concern and reiterated their commitment to addressing the problems in a comprehensive manner.
   They reiterated the commitment to implementing SAFTA, and called for reduction in the size of the sensitive lists, acceleration of trade facilitation measures, and removal of non-tariff, para-tariff and other barriers.