Kathmandu: Better late than never, the Secretary General of the SAARC, Ambassador Q.A.M.A Rahim has courageously admitted that the speed of the SAARC process had been slow compared to other regional bodies.
“Our progress may have been modest”, says Ambassador Rahim but yet consoles himself and the people of the SAARC region by stating that “the future need not be the same”.
His Excellency Rahim made these remarks Monday evening while celebrating the SAARC Charter day at the premises of the SAARC Secretariat.
According to Rahim, the “pronouncements made during the Kathmandu Summit to give effect to the shared aspirations for a more prosperous South Asia and to work for the realization of the vision of a phased and planned process eventually leading to a South Asian Economic Union” is a testimony to our collective will to move forward.
The impending Summit in Islamabad could be a watershed development for the region for varied reasons, added SAARC secretary-general.
SAFTA treaty if signed in Islamabad might pave the way for the eventual creation of a SA Economic Union; the SAARC social charter if signed at the next summit might take care of the issues of poverty reduction, empowerment of women, youth mobilization, human resources development and the likes; the report drafted by the reconstituted Independent Commission on Poverty Alleviation if approved at the summit level might go a long way in our collective struggle against the scourge of poverty in the region and the next summit is to consider the establishment of three regional centers in three countries namely, SAARC Cultural center in Colombo, Center for Coastal management in Maldives and the SAARC Media center in Nepal, continued the SAARC Secretary General.
The chief guest of the ceremony, Nepal’s Prime Minister Thapa said that the “mixed-bag of achievements and shortcomings notwithstanding, the sense of oneness and the attestation of the necessity of the cooperation at the regional level, that has burgeoned among the people of SA along these years is the true achievement of SAARC.
On the same occasion, Thapa clearly hinted his detractors that he would not resign from the current post at least till the Islamabad Summit.
If he is talking sense then it means that Thapa’s political enemies will have to wait one more full moth to watch his outgoing ceremony. But what is the guarantee that even after the SAARC Summit he will tender his resignation. After all Thapa is a different political stuff who holds several political cards under his sleeve round the clock.