Lanka Opposed To Sub-Regional Groupings
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga will support the view of the Pakistani and Maldivian leaders that establishment of sub-regional groupings within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) could adversely affect the regional forum, officials said here yesterday.
We believe that the sub-regional grouping could be a hurdle to Saarc because the member nations of the sub-regional group may give top priority to implementation of the programmes of that group, thus pushing the Saarc programmes to the back seat, a senior official said.
He admitted that Sri Lanka had for a while toyed with the idea of joining the sub-regional group comprising India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. But later, we came to the conclusion that all our energies should be reserved to push forward regional cooperation under the Saarc banner, the senior official said.
India has accepted the Sri Lankan proposal that in the case of any country joining or forming any sub-regional grouping comprising two or more Saarc members, the forum should be kept informed of such developments. At the foreign secretary-level meeting, the Sri Lankan proposal was accepted as a consensus formula after India tried to defend its role in the proposed sub-grouping, against which Pakistan and Maldives, together with Sri Lanka, expressed strong reservations, the official stated.
India maintained that the four-nation sub-regional council was only for region specific joint projects, but later agreed to the Sri Lankan proposal.
Sri Lankan officials said it was difficult to accept Bangladesh foreign minister of state Abdul Hasan Chowdhurys assertion that the sub-regional group would not undermine Saarc. We feel it is perfectly all right to enter into any bilateral arrangements by Saarc members, an official said. But when there are sub-regional arrangements by four Saarc members, it could undermine the regional forum.
He said Sri Lanka had good relations with India and any issue could be discussed because of the excellent understanding between the two countries, which he described as at its zenith.
Hence, there is no question of any misunderstanding between Colombo and New Delhi over this issue, the official said.