SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is on the way to achieve another milestone. In a fresh move, India held a meeting with other SAARC members for finalizing the project of SAARC satellite which is exclusively for regional grouping. Officials from ISRO and external affairs ministry attended the meet with other officials of SAARC nations. This initiative was ordered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year after one month of his joining and made its announcement in Kathmandu during 18th SAARC summit (26-27 November 2014).
The role of the satellite will be weather forecasting tele-medicine, tele-education, disaster management and crop productivity and termed as a gift to SAARC nations. The meet was successfully concluded with complete cooperation from all member nations. Some doubts were also raised during the meet like Afghanistan has a satellite but has some area out of its reach, so how will it work? Nepal is completely emphasizing on disaster management. Bhutan officials praised the move. This satellite will help them as they don’t have any satellite of their own. According to ISRO’s schedule, the satellite has to be launched before SAARC day which falls on 8th December 2016.
SAARC is a group of 8 nations (with 9 observers) which is formed to strengthen the trade and boost the economy of South Asian nations. Some nations have shown their interest in it. Myanmar is trying to get the status of the permanent member from its current observer status. While Russia also want the observer status of SAARC. The group nations have also showed their activeness in an anti-terrorism field during 12th and 13th summit.
SAFTA South Asian Free Trade area was also a step to bolster the relations of South Asian nations. It was signed on 6th January 2004 during 12th SAARC summit held in Islamabad, Pakistan. But the agreement came into force after two years in January 2006. SAFTA aims at providing equitable benefit and pacing up the competition among the member countries. It increased the economic cooperation trade to a new level.
SAARC VISA exemption was also an appreciable step toward the establishment of harmony. Last year in September, the officials form SAARC have discussed this issue. The meet was aimed toward SAARC VISA facilitation and VISA exemption sticker scheme. The immigration officials discussed to provide VISA exemption for common people in the SAARC countries. Currently only eminent personals and government officials are allowed for VISA exemption.
SAARC has been very close to Modi which was witnessed when he invited all SAARC nations on his swearing-in ceremony. This step cemented the closeness of Modi with SAARC with the neighbor first policy. Well, SAARC satellite will be a major step in building close relations with neighbors. Modi’s step will not only help some under developed countries but also support nations in vast areas. Indo-Pak relations are also supposed to be rebalanced through it. The active participation of Pak is a positive sign for India. If India went ahead along with cordial relation with close neighbors then, the development will also be effected. As the military ties with Pak and China are not so good. So it is necessary to equalize the relations in some other fields. India’s contribution in Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIB) is also a good step by India toward international ties and these steps in various fields will lead to international peace.
