[Nethra K Putti]

INDIA-SAARC RELATIONSHIP

- A universal realization among the third world countries self-help & collective help in pursing the goals of economic progress & development implelled the country of south asia to forge a regional grouping despite their earlier misgiving & apprehensions.
- india with her experience of initial efforts to organize the asian community & the conflicts in the region welcomed the initiative of bangladesh in 1980. for an association of south asian namely india, pakistan, srilanka, bangladesh, nepal, bhutan, maldives.
- SAARC provides a platform for the peoples of south asia to work together in a spirit of friendship , trust & understanding .
- it aims to accelerated the process of economic & social development in member states.
- the initial years of saarc were marked by significant political developments in the world culminating in the demise of cold war & the disremberment of the soviet union.
- therefore, when the proposal for the regional co-operation was made by bangladesh india could not reject the proposal.
- as this regional cooperation could play a useful role in india's own regional policy.
- india is the biggest with sharing the borders with all 6 countries of the region.
- from politicla to economic level, india & its neighbors have many disputes.
- inida is also having the stable democracy, has a strong military machine, a large scientific & technical manpower & a vast industries infrastructure makes it different from other countries.
- the end of cold war has provided greater leeway to india to promote her perception of south africa regionalism through SAARC.
- india has become the heart of saarc & in fact constitutes the major source of both GDP, trade & capital flows within saarc/region.
- the reluctance of india & other south asian countries to turn saarc into forum for resolving major regional disputes hampers saarc ability to deal with many of the south asia's economic & political problems.

Mekong-Ganga Cooperation :
- it was established on nov 10 2000 at vientiane in the 1st MGC ministerial-meeting.
- it comprises of 6 members countries namely, thailand, myanmar,cambodia, lao PDR, vietnam & india.
- they emphses on 4 areas of cooperation , which are : tourism, culture, education , transportation linkages in order to be solid foundation for future trade & investment cooperation in the region.

Cooperation Mechanisms :
- the working mechanism for MGC consists of the annual ministrial meeting, the senior official's meeting, 5 working group namely :
* working group on tourism (thailand)
* working group on education , HRD (india)
* working group on culture (cambodia)
* working group on communication & transportation (lao PDR)
* working group on paln of actions (vietnam).
- with his cooperation india has extended its footprints in asean region under the geostartegic back drop.
- india has added powerful cultural dimension to its economic diplomacy by encouraging business contacts between the people residing on the banks of mekong & ganga.

[satishtj]

A interesting question is

Bimstec vs SAARC
Why at all Bimstec was formed ??

[mrunal]

Originally Posted by satishtj

A interesting question is

Bimstec vs SAARC
Why at all Bimstec was formed ??

i think they did it to exclude economically non-important nations like Pakistan, Bhutan & Nepal.

esp pakistan because of whom SAARC doesn't function properly (meetings were skipped by India in 1999 & 2003). but in Bimstec since Pakistan is missing, it can function on its max capacity.

[satishtj]

1. Bimstec .. is where Look East of India meets look west of East Nations
2. BIMSTEC .. No china .. so its problems with Myanmar can be solved in this forum .
3. BIMSTEC FTA is more advantage than SAARC FTA since
SAFTA needs India to have 2 lists and give concessions to Least Developed Nations ..

Regading economic not so imp countries [ pAk , bhutan ] left out ... PAK is not a Least developed Nation in SAARC ..

[ However recent crisis .. shook Pak .. can u elaborate Why Paks recent economic crisis .. N substantiate why Pak is economicall not so important ?? ]

[satishtj]

More than PAk its China ..
which missing which makes Bimstec important .

Since India and Myanmar dont meet elsewhere .. only other was Kunming initative of china