Reference Text

The leadership of the SAARC was passed over to Maldives with the President, Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, taking over as the Chairman from Pakistan. Moreover, the leaders also agreed to observe 1991 as the 'SAARC Year of Shelter', 1992 as 'SAARC Year of Environment', and 1993 as 'SAARC Year of Disabled Persons'. The sixth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation scheduled to begin in Colombo on November 7, 1991 was postponed. The ostensible reason for the Summit's cancellation was the inability of the King of Bhutan to attend the meeting because of trouble in his kingdom. It was cancelled because the SAARC Charter stipulates that all seven members of the organisation should attend summits. Later on, the sixth Summit was held on December 21, 1991 in Colombo. All of the seven member countries agreed to liberalise trade in the region, with the Prime Minister of India proposing a 'collective economic security system'. It was pointed out that the regional economic co operation was the only alternative which will be able to fulfil the need for an effective safeguard for further developing and strengthening economies of developing countries. The general trend towards disarmament was welcomed at the Summit. The trend towards safeguarding human rights was also welcomed but it was felt that this could not be viewed in 'narrow and exclusively political terms'. It was noted that civil and political rights on the one hand and economic and social rights on the other were 'interdependent and of equal importance'. The Heads of Governments also decided to closely examine the proposal to establish a SAARC preferential trade arrangement by 1997. The Seventh SAARC Summit was held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in 1993 and the eighth in New Delhi in May 1995. A permanent secretariat of SAARC has been set up at Kathmandu in Nepal. The ninth SAARC Summit was held in Male, the capital of Maldives, from May 12 to 14, 1997. In the ninth Summit it was evident that the Summit had lost much of its appeal. The bitter relationship between India and Pakistan is the main obstacle in the path of regional co operation. The SAARC Summit in Colombo was held towards the end of July 1998. The Colombo Declaration issued at the end of the three day Summit did not directly refer to the nuclear blasts at Pokhran and Chagai Hills in May 1998, but criticised major nuclear weapons, despite a worldwide commitment to nuclear disarmament. The leadership of the SAARC was passed over to Maldives with the President, Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, taking over as the Chairman from Pakistan. Moreover, the leaders also agreed to observe 1991 as the 'SAARC Year of Shelter', 1992 as

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