Introduction
- The President of Bangladesh, the King of Bhutan, the Prime
Minister of India, the President of Maldives, the King of Nepal, the
President of Pakistan and the President of Sri Lanka met in Dhaka on
7 and 8 December 1985.
- The Heads of State or Government underscored the historic
significance of their first ever South Asian Summit meeting. They
considered it to be a tangible manifestation of their determination
to cooperate regionally, to work together towards finding solutions
towards their common problems in a spirit of friendship, trust and
mutual understanding and to the creation of an order based on mutual
respect, equity and shared benefits.
- They recognized that periodic meetings at their level were
central to the promotion of mutual trust, confidence and cooperation
among their countries.
- The Heads of State or Government reaffirmed that their
fundamental goal was to accelerate the process of economic and
social development in their respective countries through the optimum
utilization of their human and material resources, so as to promote
the welfare and prosperity of their peoples and to improve their
quality of life. They were conscious that peace and security was an
essential prerequisite for the realization of this objective.
- The leaders of the South Asian countries reaffirmed their
commitment to the UN Charter and the principles governing sovereign
equality of States, peaceful settlement of disputes,
non-interference in internal affairs and non-use or threat of use of
force against the territorial integrity and political independence
of other States. They reiterated that the United Nations constituted
the most important forum for the resolution of all issues affecting
international peace and security.
- They also reaffirmed their deep conviction in the continuing
validity and relevance of the objectives of the Nonaligned movement
as an important force in international relations.
- The Heads of State or Government acknowledged that the countries
of South Asia, who constituted one-fifth of humanity, were faced
with the formidable challenges posed by poverty, underdevelopment,
low levels of production, unemployment and pressure of population
compounded by exploitation of the past and other adverse legacies.
They felt that, bound as their countries were by many common values
rooted in their social, ethnic, cultural and historical traditions,
regional cooperation provided a logical response to these problems.
They were conscious of their individual and regional strengths,
their potential as a huge market, their substantial human and
natural resources and the complementarities of their economies. They
were confident that with effective regional cooperation, they could
make optimum use of these capacities for the benefit of their
peoples, accelerate the pace of their economic development and
enhance their national and collective self-reliance. They were
convinced that their countries, which had made important
contributions to the enrichment of human civilization, could
together play their due role in international relations and
influence decisions which affected them.
- The Heads of State or Government emphasised that strengthening of
regional cooperation in South Asia required greater involvement of
their peoples. They agreed to increase interaction and further
promote people-to-people contacts at various levels among their
countries. To this end, they decided to take steps to create
awareness and public opinion in the region.
- The Heads of State or Government welcomed the progress already
made in the implementation of the Integrated Programme of Action in
the nine mutually agreed areas. They expressed their desire to
consolidate and further expand cooperative efforts within an
appropriate institutional frame work in a spirit of partnership and
equality.
- The leaders were convinced that they could effectively pursue
their individual and collective objectives and improve the quality
of life of their peoples only in an atmosphere of peace and
security. In this context, they expressed concern at the
deteriorating international political situation. They were alarmed
at the unprecedented escalation of arms race particularly in its
nuclear aspect. They recognized that mankind today was confronted
with the threat of self extinction arising from a massive
accumulation of the most destructive weapons ever produced. The arms
race intensified international tension and violated the principles
of the UN Charter. The leaders called upon the nuclear
weapons-states for urgent negotiations for a comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty leading to the complete cessation of testing, production and
deployment of nuclear weapons. In this connection, they welcomed the
recent meeting between President Reagan and General Secretary
Gorbachev in Geneva and expressed the hope that the meeting would
have a positive effect on international peace and security.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed deep concern at the
continuing crises in the global economy. They underscored that
deteriorating economic and social conditions had seriously retarded
developing countries. Sharply falling commodity prices,
deterioration in the terms of trade, intensification of
protectionist measures, spiralling debt burden and a decline in the
flow of external resources, especially concessional assistance, had
caused a serious setback to the economic development of the
developing countries. These had been compounded by natural disasters
and precarious world food security situation affecting developing
countries. They also expressed concern over the diminishing capacity
of international financial and technical institutions to respond
effectively to the needs of the disadvantaged and poorer countries
and regretted that the spirit of multilateral cooperation had begun
to falter and weaken. This was particularly disturbing in the face
of increased interdependence of developed and developing countries
and the fact that economic revival of North was closely linked to
economic progress in South. They believed that developments during
the past decades had clearly demonstrated the structural imbalances
and inequities inherent in the existing international economic
system and its inadequacy to deal with problems of development.
- They strongly urged that determined efforts should be made by the
international community towards realization of the goals and targets
of the International Development Strategy as well as the Substantial
New Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries. They
called for urgent resumption of the North-South dialogue and early
convening of an International Conference on Money and Finance for
Development with universal participation.
- The Heads of State or Government were conscious of the historic
importance of the Dhaka Summit and reiterated their conviction that
the launching of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC), which they had established at this meeting,
would place regional cooperation on a firm foundation, play an
important role in accelerating the pace of economic and social
development of their countries, promote the objectives of individual
and collective self reliance and further the cause of peace,
progress and stability in their region and the world.
- The Heads of State or Government of Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were deeply appreciative of the
exemplary Chairmanship of their Meeting by the President of
Bangladesh. They expressed their profound gratitude for the warm and
gracious hospitality extended to them by the Government and the
people of Bangladesh and for the excellent arrangements made for the
meeting.
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