Page 82 - LECTURETTE TOPICS eBOOK

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setting up the regional centers in the member countries, development of an
independent commission for poverty alleviation, development fund etc.

However, SAARC has not been able to function in full swing because of the disputes
between India and Pakistan. The association also has not been able to achieve
100% success due to the political differences, bilateral issues and development
pattern difference between the member states.

Current scenario

Currently, the commission is working towards SAFTA. This stands for South Asian
Trade Free Area that aims to create a free trading zone between member countries.
Also, the programs named SAVE- SAARC audio visual exchange program, SAARC
scholarship, youth volunteers program, youth award program, games association,
south Asian festivals etc are organized for empowering the relations between the
member countries.

Till date, 14 SAARC summits have been organized at different areas. The foreign
and state ministers or the member countries arrange summit twice a year or more
during any extraordinary situation. The committee performs monitoring, choose
priorities, and approve projects related to finance, trade, budget and different
activities during the meetings.

Till date, some progressive decisions and policies were made during the meetings.
Strategies for SAARC food bank, development fund, strategies for controlling
terrorism, policies and plans to control human and drug trafficking, policies for easing
trade relations between member countries, poverty alleviation, disaster
management, economic cooperation, counter terrorism etc. were made. During each
summit, these issues were raised and new policies and strategies to fight the above
given issues were launched. However, the main attention of SAARC summits was to
implement SAFTA. The aim behind developing SAFTA was to form a custom union,
th
economic union and common trade market. This agreement was signed on 6
January 2004, in the summit held at Pakistan. After this agreement, the SAARC
exports increased to $354.6 billion and imports increased to $330billion. A

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