A situation in which the SAARC summit would have been a complete fiasco was staved off at Kathmandu when other SAARC countries including host Nepal put pressure on Pakistan to stop blocking proposed agreements that all other countries wanted to sign. Finally, the pressure proved too much on Pakistan, which will be hosting the next summit. Pakistan finally agreed to sign the SAARC Framework Agreement on Energy Cooperation as a face-saver, but did not agree to the proposed SAARC Motor Vehicles Agreement for the Regulation of Passengers and Cargo Vehicular Traffic, as well as the SAARC Regional Agreement on Railways.
The SAARC Framework Agreement on Energy Cooperation is expected to boost more cooperation in the power sector among the SAARC countries due to which SAARC countries can have greater access to electricity from each other through operation of a regional power grid. Pakistan had earlier opposed the energy pact citing non-completion of internal processes but had to give in after it was isolated on the matter. It is widely believed that Pakistan was using its differences on other issues with India to try to foil any consensus in the South Asian bloc. Regional projects in the SAARC countries will be identified now in the area of “power generation, transmission, and electricity trade including hydropower, natural gas, solar, wind and bio-fuel” with a view to “meeting the increasing demand for power in the region”. The other two aforementioned proposed agreements that Pakistan did not commit to are designed to boost road and rail connectivity. The proposed motor vehicle road and railway agreements will enable movement of vehicles in the SAARC region with both cargo and passengers subject to certain clauses. The proposed agreement aims to boost regional connectivity by road. The proposed Railway pact also aims to boost connectivity within SAARC by fostering rail connectivity in the region. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself put it, “Infrastructure is our region’s greatest weakness and its most pressing need. When I thought of coming to Kathmandu by road, it made many officials in India nervous. Because of the condition of roads at the border! Infrastructure is my greatest priority in India. And, I also want to set up a Special Purpose Facility in India to finance infrastructure projects in our region that enhances our connectivity and trade.”
At the end of the SAARC summit, the Kathmandu Declaration was adopted, which stated that the SAARC countries had decided to hold a meeting of the transport ministers within three months in order to finalise the two connectivity agreements for approval.
The Kathmandu Declaration also recorded that “the leaders renewed their commitment to achieve the South Asian Economic Union (SAEU) in a phased and planned manner through a Free Trade Area, a Customs Union, a Common Market, and a Common Economic and Monetary Union”, possibly indicative of a larger desire among some to move towards a complete European Union-style monetary union although this looks highly unlikely at this stage.
In the backdrop of the sixth anniversary of the horrific 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008, which fell during the SAARC summit and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi too raising the issue, SAARC directed the “full and effective implementation on the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism”. But with Pakistan’s dubious record of encouraging terror as a tool of state policy and refusal to bring the 26/11 plotters to justice, a big question mark hangs over this.
