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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Saarc summit: Modi meets Sharif; leaders agree on electricity pact
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Saarc summit: Modi meets Sharif; leaders agree on electricity pact

The other two pacts on road and rail network will be sorted out in three months by Saarc transport ministers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (extreme left) addressing the inaugural session of 18th Saarc summit in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Photo: PTIPremium
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (extreme left) addressing the inaugural session of 18th Saarc summit in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Photo: PTI

Kathmandu: The eight-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) on Thursday signed a framework pact on electricity trade, salvaging the summit meeting with one of three expected showpiece accords being signed.

The second and final day of the 18th Saarc summit in Kathmandu also saw the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries after they cold-shouldered each other on Wednesday—signalling a possible change in atmospherics between the two countries though there was no news of a resumption of a stalled dialogue.

The sole pact was signed by the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka after the heads of government of Saarc countries managed a breakthrough during their customary retreat on the second day of the two-day summit.

The other two pacts—one permitting motor vehicles to traverse the region and another to allow the movement of railways—will be sorted out in three months, with the transport ministers of Saarc countries empowered to sort out any hitches in the way of implementing the deals.

“Yes, there were some difficulties yesterday (Wednesday), but the ability of the leaders to overcome them in a graduated manner bodes well for SAARC," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. “Therefore, the Indian delegation goes back home satisfied that the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi)’s first Saarc summit has been a success," he said.

Akbaruddin described the power pact as “a tangible outcome which benefits the people of Saarc".

On Wednesday, South Asian diplomats said that while most Saarc countries were in favour of the three pacts, Pakistan was the holdout, expressing its inability to give a green signal to the pact given that “internal processes" were not complete.

But by Thursday afternoon, following the “intervention" of the Saarc leaders at the retreat in Dhulikhel, some 20km from the Nepalese capital, Pakistan was brought on board by the other leaders and the power pact was signed.

“We hope that the trend that was set in the summit will take this (the motor vehicle and railway agreements) forward and we would have agreement on this issue also taking account internal requirements member states may have...we look forward to an early outcome," Akbaruddin said.

Saarc was formed in 1985 when the heads of government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka met for their first summit in Dhaka. In 2007, Afghanistan joined the grouping, expanding the membership to eight. Squabbling between India and Pakistan is widely blamed for the poor performance of Saarc, which was modelled on the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). A free trade pact has been in force since 2006 but high tariffs and restrictions have kept trade limited to just 5% of their total trade, compared with 25% in the 10-member Asean.

The accord on power is expected to enable greater trade in power, improving availability of electricity in the region. It will permit power to be traded as a normal commodity and facilitate the creation and operation of a regional power grid.

According to the declaration released at the end of the summit, “The leaders directed the relevant Saarc bodies and mechanisms to identify regional and subregional projects in the area of power generation, transmission and power trade, including hydropower, natural gas, solar, wind and biofuel and implement them with high priority with a view to meeting the increasing demand for power in the region."

There was some speculation that the signing of the power pact was also helped by the India-Pakistan ice-breaking and some persuasion by Nepal, which had wanted the summit hosted by it to end with some degree of success.

“When the leaders met (at Dhulikhel) there was no one else (officials, aides, etc)...by our understanding, they have discussed various Saarc matters including the energy agreement," Akbaruddin said.

When asked how substantive was the engagement between Modi and Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif, Akbaruddin said there was an exchange of greetings and pleasantries. The atmosphere at the retreat was “very convivial" with all the leaders extremely comfortable with each other. The leaders spent a lot of time with each other but the exchanges between India and Pakistan did not constitute a dialogue or meaningful talks, Akbaruddin clarified.

“Saarc is not only about India and Pakistan. It’s about all our neighbours in South Asia; that is the goal we came with and that is the goal we fulfilled," he said.

While there were no plans for structured bilateral talks with Pakistan, “India is for peaceful and cooperative relations with Pakistan," Akbaruddin said. If the handshakes on Thursday lead to meaningful dialogue with Pakistan, “we welcome that…the emphasis is on meaningful dialogue," Akbaruddin said.

Since the first face-to-face interaction between Modi and Sharif in New Delhi on 26-27 May when the latter attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, India put the talks on hold after Pakistan decided to engage Kashmiri separatists ahead of a meeting of their foreign secretaries in Islamabad on 25 August. Last week, Sharif, in a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama, sought the latter’s help in resolving the Kashmir dispute. India is insistent that the dispute over Kashmir be sorted out bilaterally. Kashmir has been the trigger for three of the four wars between India and Pakistan since 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety but administer it in parts.

Meanwhile, Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, whose country is the current chair of Saarc, said the Kathmandu declaration of Saarc had pledged to “deepen cooperation in core areas of trade, investment, finance, energy, infrastructure and connectivity".

The highlights of the declaration include “accelerating the process of creating free trade in the region, enhancing regional connectivity through building and upgrading roads, railways, waterways infrastructure, energy grids, communications and air links, utilizing the youth power for socioeconomic development and combating terrorism," he said in comments posted on the Nepalese foreign ministry website.

“We have agreed to hold henceforth the meetings of the Saarc summit every two years, or earlier, if necessary," Koirala said, adding that the next summit would be hosted by Pakistan in Islamabad in 2016. In the initial stages, Saarc summits were organized every year, but of late, summits have been held at intervals of two or more years. The last Saarc summit at Addu in the Maldives took place in 2011.

On the contentious issue of upgrading some Saarc observers to dialogue partners, the Kathmandu declaration said that the leaders had directed senior officials of Saarc to engage observers in productive, demand-driven and objective project-based cooperation in priority areas as identified by member states."

On Wednesday, Pakistan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka had batted for an enlarged role for observer countries such as China in Saarc, a move India is not comfortable with.

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Published: 27 Nov 2014, 02:06 PM IST
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