The hope is on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrives in Thimphu on Wednesday to shake Saarc out of its stupor and engage with the rest of the world
The slow and easy pace of the Bhutanese Himalayan kingdom seems to have so effectively contaminated the 16th Saarc summit that even India, the largest economy in the region, would rather focus on the building blocks than on the dramatic gesture which could radically alter the character of this still-listless trading bloc.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, addressing all eight foreign ministers from the region today, the day before all the leaders are scheduled to meet, pointed out that as the region emerged from a period of unprecedented global recession towards relative economic growth and stability, it “should seize the opportunity to advance our collective efforts to enhance trade, open borders and facilitate economic integration in our region.”
The minister’s speech, written by the bureaucrats in his Foreign Office, sounded so progressive and far-reaching on paper, but in practice India’s political leadership remains unwilling to walk the extra mile because of the fiercely protectionist impulses of some of its ministries, led by agriculture and textiles.
Indian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity admitted that despite India’s willingness to open up trade within the region, New Delhi continued to suffer from a “crisis of perception”. For New Delhi’s trade initiatives to succeed and be accepted as being “liberal and egalitarian” by people across South Asia, India needed to “do things differently,” the officials said.
So, even as Krishna in his speech cited “regional connectivity” as the linchpin for Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) — through the upgrade of trade, transport and telecommunication links, through harmonisation of customs procedures and standards, through improved contacts between youth, civil society, academics and parliamentarians — there was no word on how any of these honourable objectives could be reached.
For example, in the Saarc summit in Delhi in 2007, it had been accepted to relax visas for businessmen, but after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, Pakistani businessmen were finding it very difficult to get visas for India, the Indian officials conceded.
“Visas are the responsibility of the Ministry of Home Affairs, not us,” the officials said, shrugging off responsibility for the backward trend.
As for journalists, despite several promises to throw open borders across Saarc, both India and Pakistan have continued to point fingers at each other over one or another reason, thereby denying easy and free access to the media in each other’s countries.
Here in Thimphu, the Bhutanese, the Bangladeshis and the Maldivians seemed unwilling to go on record, but all agreed that until India and Pakistan sorted out their lingering feuds, most of the 1.5 billion people in the region would not be able to savour the fruits of the economic reform sweeping across parts of Asia.
Indian officials emphasised that New Delhi had come a long way in recent years and was now willing to practise the “asymmetrical approach” in trade with least developing countries (LDC) like Bangladesh and Bhutan.
However, with non-LDC countries like Pakistan, the “negative politics” was so strong that it impacted in a big way on trade and investment. It was possible to change things, the Indian officials conceded, insisting that “strong political will” was needed to breach the chasm.
All eyes are now on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who arrives in Thimphu tomorrow afternoon to shake Saarc out of its stupor and engage with the rest of the world.
Indian officials admitted that the “crisis of perception” over India’s trade policies even extended to LDC countries, even though in practice they were incapable of taking advantage of India’s liberal regimes.
For example, Bangladesh had been given duty-free access to 8 million pieces of garments, a target which it had not been able to achieve in the last two years. India had retained about 480 tariff lines on its sensitive lists, mostly pertaining to agriculture and textiles, but since lingering perceptions remained negative, these limited tariff lines were used by Dhaka “as a stick to beat Delhi.”
