SAARC and security
THAT there should be more action than words is a common feeling of the people of the SAARC countries, as they continue to face natural as well as man-made catastrophes of severe kinds. After twenty-three years of its existence, it is justifiable for the people to look up to the leaders to implement policies that would remove wide-scale poverty and ensure social, economic and food security of the present generation and that of the future ones. Better disaster management by the respective governments in collaboration with member countries is another vital issue for the people of the SAARC countries, who often lose lives and property in flash floods, cyclones, landslides and earthquakes.
We hope Dhaka's call for making the body more effective in the context of regional and global realities should be taken up with due concern by other members. The burning realities common to all the countries are ever-increasing poverty, trade and tariff adjustment, energy crunch, climate change, terrorism and food security. While many of the issues have direct link to international productivity and price adjustment, we believe a common SAARC strategy to handle the problems would help us find better solutions. There is no denying that the most important of all the issues to be discussed at length is making SAARC Food Bank operational to ensure food security of the people. It is a matter of shame that people in this modern era of scientific advancement should go hungry and remain shelterless. We hope the charter of Saarc Development Fund and Saarc Regional Standardisation Organisation agreement will become effective soon enough to help member countries enjoy the fruits at the earliest.
One cannot but agree that the removal of existing barriers to trade and commerce would contribute to faster growth of the economies that are yet to take off outstandingly. In this context, Dhaka's call for the removal of existing non-tariff barriers to open more windows of opportunities in the least developed member countries should be deliberated upon with due seriousness.
We hope the cross-border incidences that tend to create misgivings among the member countries should be discussed thoroughly and consensus reached to create an environment of trust and goodwill among the security forces that man the borders as well as among the common people. The SAARC meetings no doubt provide opportunities for the policy makers to develop a better insight into their common problems and thereby seize it as an opportunity to find solutions. The common goal should be improving the economic condition and standard of life of the common people.
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