The Significance of SAARC in the South Asia Region:
A Theoretical Study
This article has investigated whether the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is significant in the South Asia region of Asia continent in the world or not. The SAARC was established on 8th December 1985. It is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. The present SAARC comprises of 8 member states such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is an economic and political organization in this region. The SAARC countries are of different sizes both geographically as well as population wise and have different resource endowments. With its population, economy and area wise, India is the largest country in the SAARC region. The basic driving force behind an establishment of the SAARC was the desire of the contracting parties for promoting peace, stability, amity and progress in the region through strict adherence to the principles of an United Nations charter and Non-Alignment. The last 19th SAARC summit scheduled was supposed to be held at Islamabad in November 2016, but this was postponed after the terrorist attack at Uri in India. After this incident, the 19th SAARC summit was not held so far.