New Delhi
9 November 2005
The prickly issue of "most favoured nation"
between India and Pakistan has held up a possible agreement on
promotion and protection of investments by all seven SAARC member-
states. Consequently, only three agreements will be signed during the
13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka.
There seems to be little forward movement even on the issue of terrorism
because not all member-states have ratified the additional protocol to the
SAARC Convention on Suppression of Terrorism even after the passage of
almost two years since the 12th SAARC Summit held in Islamabad
between January 4 and 6 in 2004.
Nepal, apparently, has not ratified the Additional Protocol because its
Parliament stands dissolved. India, accordingly, has observed that the
Dhaka Summit "would be stressing the need for ratification of the
Additional Protocol [and] call for an early conclusion of a Comprehensive
Convention on International Terrorism."
While a consensus already existed on the signing of two agreements on
mutual administrative assistance in customs matters and a limited
multilateral treaty on avoidance of double taxation, member-states have
ironed out their differences on a third agreement on establishment of a
SAARC Arbitration Council.
According to sources, there were many claimants besides India for
hosting the Arbitration Council. Those differences have since been
eliminated in the run-up to the Summit but a fourth possible agreement on
promotion and protection of investments has been held to ransom by the
MFN issue between India and Pakistan.
Incidentally, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in Chandigarh on
Wednesday, "Be it in education, in health care, in tourism, in trade and
investment opportunities, in all these matters India has the capacity and
the tradition to be welcoming of its neighbours. Provided, of course, that
those who visit us come as our friends and our well-wishers and bear no
ill-will towards our people and our nation."
The 13th SAARC Summit was deferred twice -- first due to the tsunami
disaster and then because of India pulling out expressing concern over
developments in Nepal as also the security situation in Bangladesh. The
next Summit will be held in India in January 2007 after Bhutan expressed
its inability to host it.
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