The Islamabad Declaration

The 12th SAARC Summit will be remembered for the change in atmosphere and effectiveness that marked it in contrast with previous summits where there was more talk than substantive progress.
This time round, because of the improved climate of relations between Pakistan and India, thanks to the painstaking preparations by the two that dominate the group, the SAARC Summit saw an unprecedented agreement on the agenda of South Asian co-operation.
The Islamabad Declaration adopted by the Summit reflects this reality. The Declaration pledged to undertake joint and sustained efforts to combat terrorism and poverty and enhance economic ties among the member states.
The Summit approved the historic SAFTA Agreement and Additional Protocol to the Convention on Suppressing Terrorism.
The Islamabad Declaration also calls on the member states to collaborate on immigration and customs controls and to promote co-operation among their respective law enforcement authorities.
It says that the state parties should carry out their obligations under the Protocol in a manner consistent with the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity of states and non-intervention in the domestic affairs of each other.
Perhaps the most significant achievement of the Summit on the economic front was the signing of SAFTA. It will come into force from January 2006.
It envisages sliding tariff reductions by the member states over a staggered timeframe of two to 11 years, with the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) being allowed the concession of a slower pace of tariff reduction.
Thus the non-LDCs are required to reduce their tariffs from the present levels to 20 percent within a two-year timeframe from January 2006, while the LDCs will only be required to reduce tariffs to 30 percent in the same timeframe.
Subsequent tariff reductions by non-LDCs from 20 percent to 0-5 percent shall be carried out within the second timeframe of five years, beginning from January 2009, except Sri Lanka which has been granted a six-year period for this purpose.
For the LDCs, reduction from 30 percent to 0-5 percent can be carried out within eight years, starting from the third year after the coming into force of the Agreement. Both the LDCs and non-LDCs will be permitted to draw up a sensitive (negative) list, to be subject to a maximum ceiling mutually agreed among the contracting states, but with more flexibility for the LDCs.
This list will be reviewed after four years or earlier as may be decided by the SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC), with a view to reducing the number of items on the list.
Article 14 of the Agreement permits member states to take action or adopt measures necessary for their national security.
Article 16 leaves room for protection of domestic industries or sectors threatened by cheaper imports from other member states, providing a mechanism whereby the case for protection can be made.
On the face of it at least, all these provisions should go a long way towards allaying the apprehensions of Doubting Thomases in the region concerning the possible impact of SAFTA on their domestic industries and commerce.
The success of the European Union (EU) and ASEAN lies in the fact that they have managed over the years to overcome the reservations regarding protection of domestic industry and commerce as well as questions of the regional bloc impinging on state sovereignty to a considerable extent.
These are models for South Asia to learn from. Of course, as Prime Minister Jamali pointed out after the Summit, economics cannot entirely be divorced from politics.
It is, therefore, a hopeful sign that the very obstacle that held up SAARC's progress over the years, ie Pakistan-India tensions, has become the factor impelling SAARC to new heights because of the beginning of a turnaround in the relationship between SAARC's two biggest member states.
Hopefully, the momentum generated in Islamabad will be continued through confidence building measures and the composite dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi, feeding positively into SAARC's deliberations and the implementation of the Islamabad Declaration's provisions.