The South Asian Association for Regional Co-Operation, or SAARC, (established December 8, 1985) is an association of 7 countries of South Asia namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These countries comprise an area of 4 480 000 km2 and a fifth of the population of the world.
SAARC encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics control and anti-terrorism. SAARC has intentionally stressed these "core issues" and avoided more divisive political issues, above all the Kashmir dispute which bitterly divides the two largest member states, India and Pakistan. However, political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings.
In 1993, SAARC countries signed an agreement gradually to lower tariffs within the region. Nine years later, at the 12th SAARC summit at Islamabad, SAARC countries devised the South Asia Free Trade Agreement which will creates a framework for the creation of a free trade zone covering 1.4 billion people.
This is the third meeting of the Saarc technical committee on communication and transport.
Saarc member states should also redouble their efforts to catch up with the comparable economies and increase their efforts to become meaningful ICT economic power, he said.
Saarc Secretariat director P.B. Shah and Kumar Shrestha, special assistant to Saarc secretary-general, are also among the participants.
At the 13th SAARC Summit which was held on the 12th-13th November 2005 in Bangladesh, SAARC leaders agreed on the membership of Afghanistan and to discuss later about observer status to give to China and Japan.
The Commission is currently designing a new, broader programme of cooperation with SAARC, which should notably seek to promote the harmonisation of standards; facilitate trade; raise awareness about the benefits of regional cooperation; and promote business networking in the SAARC area.
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