The Saarc members signed agreements on environment and services. It is important that the provisions under yet another declaration do not become inconsequential, as has happened through the history of Saarc.

The Saarc silver jubilee statement on climate change commissioned various inter-governmental initiatives to address the challenges of climate change, such as an expert group on climate change, a mountain initiative, a monsoon initiative, a climate-related disasters, etc. Timely implementation of the 2008 Dhaka Declaration and Saarc Action Plan on Climate Change was also emphasised.

Climate change has become a core issue for Saarc as the entire region is vulnerable to the impact of environmental degradation. Regional collaborative efforts to mitigate impact of climate change are, thus, crucial.

The issue of climate change has been in focus right from the Fifth Saarc summit in 1990. However, there is not much in terms of tangible outcomes. Projects have been identified under various technical committees and working groups, but implementation is slow.

For instance, the recommendations of the regional study, Greenhouse effect and its impact on the region , completed in 1993 have not yet been implemented . Also, no visible outputs are yet seen from the Coastal Zone Management Centre in Maldives (2005) and the forestry centre in Bhutan (2008).

Even the 2008 Dhaka Declaration and Saarc Plan of Action on Climate Change failed to portray Saarc as a single entity at Copenhagen. In fact, the joint programme conducted under Saarc Storm — a coordinated field programme for severe thunderstorm observations and regional modelling is a rare climate-change initiative to have been successfully implemented.

Also, given Saarc’s failure to come up with a common agenda on climate change at Copenhagen , this summit was an opportunity for south Asian countries to devise a common agenda as a regional group on climate change challenges for the next session of the Conference of Parties (COP) in Mexico in December.

However, no concrete stand was defined, and the members merely re-stated the need for a common stand.

Nevertheless, a strategy highlighting possible areas of cooperation among the Saarc countries has surely been outlined in the convention. What is now left to be seen is whether the items of this declaration get implemented or are shelved as most others are.

Apart from climate change, the second agreement that was signed is on trade in services, under the aegis of South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta ). Trade in services offers an opportunity for exploring additional trade complementarities among members, given that intra-regional trade in Saarc continues to be a meagre 5% of its global trade.

Services contribute more than half of the region’s GDP and all countries have an interest in exporting services . However, trade in services is still low: 2.5% of global services trade for India but less than 0.5% of global trade for rest of south Asia.

ADB has shown that the region has maximum potential in five sectors in which the countries should negotiate commitments: construction, tourism, health, telecommunications and higher education.

However, since commitments to liberalise these sectors have already been undertaken by six countries under the WTO, full benefits of such liberalisation can be reaped only if all countries make more liberal commitments at the regional level than at the multilateral level.

Also, significant will be the level of liberalisation under Modes 2 and 4 of services trade delivery. These two sectors have maximum potential for services trade in the region. Mode 2 is where residents of one country consume services in the foreign market, including movement of foreign tourists, students and patients.

This mode is fairly open in the region, but would benefit tremendously by introduction of visa-on-arrival or novisa facility for tourists. Also, smaller countries should negotiate with India for getting concession in fees charged for their students and patients coming to India.

Mode 4 is the movement of foreign natural persons into a country for providing a service, and includes skilled professionals and business personnel . Gains from Mode 4 services liberalisation would be most since all countries have high interest in it but have neither liberalised this mode autonomously nor taken liberal Gats commitments.

Movement of skilled professionals and traders is vital for development of the region. Smaller countries will especially gain by seeking meaningful market access for the movement of their workers into India. Mode 4 liberalisation would essentially involve simplification of regulation on visas and work permits, especially by India, which is most restrictive.

Streamlining the processes of obtaining a Saarc visa to increase its access to business professionals will also be vital.

Thus, the two agreements are significant milestones in the process of Saarc regional integration. The climate change agreement is forward-looking and addresses the need of the hour, while the agreement on trade in services is an opportunity to explore untapped trade potential.

The challenges lie in seeing whether the provisions of the climate change agreement can be implemented , and how far the Modes 2 and 4 can be liberalised under the services agreement. The question is whether the complicated political economy of the region will yet again pose a challenge for fructification of the seeds of cooperation that have been sowed.