Introduction
- The President of Bangladesh, the King of Bhutan, the Prime
Minister of India, the President of Maldives, the King of Nepal, the
Prime Minister of Pakistan and the President of Sri Lanka assembled
for the Third Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) in Kathmandu on 2-4 November, 1987.
- The Heads of State or Government recalled with pleasure the
launching of SAARC which marked the beginning of a new era of
regional cooperation for the promotion of peace and progress, mutual
trust and goodwill in South Asia and underlined the importance of
annual meetings at their level, as a prime mover, in consolidating
and accelerating the pace and process of overall social, economic
and cultural development in the region. They renewed their
commitment to the SAARC Charter. They reiterated their desire of
promoting peace, stability, amity and progress in the region through
strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter and
Nonalignment, particularly respect for the principles of sovereign
equality, territorial integrity, national independence, non-use of
force and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States
and peaceful settlement of disputes.
- The Heads of State or Government emphasized that a fundamental
goal of SAARC was to promote the welfare of the peoples of South
Asia and to provide them with the opportunity to live in dignity and
realise their full potential. They were conscious of the formidable
tasks ahead of eradicating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and
unemployment and alleviation of environmental degradation facing
South Asia today. They were convinced that the peoples and
governments of South Asia could, acting in unison, surmount these
challenges.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed their faith in and
commitment to the principles and purposes enshrined in the United
Nation Charter. They further believed that the United Nations has an
important role to play in promoting universal trust, understanding
and concerted actions for the attainment of lasting peace, global
development and general disarmament. They reiterated their concern
at the crisis facing the United Nations. They expressed their
commitment to the multilateral negotiating process and called upon
all states to help strengthen the UN system. They reaffirmed their
belief that SAARC will reinforce this process by promoting South
Asian cooperation.
- The Heads of State or Government also reaffirmed their deep
commitment to the principles and objectives of the Non-Aligned
Movement. They underscored the validity of its philosophy and the
historic role the Movement has been playing and continues to play in
strengthening world peace and harmony as well as in promoting
development with justice and equity. They also noted that
institutionalization and strengthening of regional cooperation in
South Asia had further nurtured the spirit of South-South
cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equity and common
benefit. They expressed satisfaction over the result of the
Ministerial Conference on Nonaligned Countries held in Pyongyang in
June 1987 and urged the Non-aligned and other developing countries
to take action to implement effectively the Pyongyang Declaration
and Plan of Action on South-South Cooperation.
- The Heads of State or Government recognised that the external
environment had a critical bearing on the development of the
economies of the South Asian Region. They noted with deep concern
that growth in the world economy had again slowed down with adverse
consequences for South Asia and other developing countries,
especially for the least developed and landlocked countries. They
observed that equitable participation of the developing countries in
international trading and economic systems and in arrangements for
the coordination of global macro economic policies was essential for
enhancing prospects and performance of the world economy.
- The South Asian leaders noted that the world economy had long
suffered from a structural disequilibrium. The pace of global
economic expansion had further slowed down. The downward trend in
commodity prices had continued. The net export earnings had fallen
aggravating payment imbalances in developing countries. The terms of
trade had further deteriorated with enormous losses to developing
countries. At the same time, the diminishing financial flows to
developing countries remained unchanged with contraction in new
lendings and growing burden of debt servicing. In fact there had
been a reverse flow of resources from developing to developed
countries. The trade conflicts had also sharpened with the rise of
protectionism thus further weakening the international trading
system and eroding the principle of special and differential
treatment in favour of developing countries.
- The Heads of State or Government reiterated the urgent need for
resumption of North-South Dialogue with a view to promoting
coordinated actions by developed and developing countries to channel
trade surpluses for development, revive growth in flagging
economies, overcome debt difficulties, expand export access to the
developing countries and stabilise commodity prices, regulate
capital flows and exchange rates more closely, and provide emergency
relief and assistance to the poorest countries. They called for an
early convening of the International Conference on Money and Finance
for Development. They also stressed the need for preserving and
liberalizing the multilateral trading system with renewed efforts
both within and outside the GATT Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade
Negotiations. They also underscored the importance of the developed
countries fully respecting the commitments made in Punta del Este on
"standstill and rollback" and called for the early and
effective implementation of this commitment. The Heads of State or
Government also reviewed the outcome of UNCTAD VII. They hoped that
UNCTAD would play an increasingly effective role in promoting
harmonious and equitable international economic relations.
- The Heads of State or Government reaffirmed the need for special
measures in favour of the least developed countries in order to
strengthen their resource capabilities and structural transformation
and urged the international community, in the light of recent
decisions at UNCTAD VII, to speed-up tangible assistance including
increased resource flows to these countries within the framework of
the Substantial New Program of Action (SNPA) for the Least Developed
Countries for 1980s.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed concern at the
deteriorating international political environment which was due to
great power policies and practices of domination and intervention as
well as the increased resort to threat or use of force, aggression,
occupation, pressure, economic coercion and interference in
violation of the principles and purposes of the Charter of the
United Nations. These destabilising measures were creating a climate
detrimental to the policies of peace, goodwill, stability,
prosperity and respect for each other.
- The Heads of State or Government believed that the escalation in
military expenditure was a major constraint on world development. In
this regard they noted that the UN Conference on Disarmament and
Development had clearly established a link between disarmament and
development and had provided a valuable frame work for future action
in this vital area.
- They welcomed the understanding reached between the United States
and the Soviet Union on Intermediate Nuclear Forces. This should be
a precursor of further accords between them to reduce drastically
their strategic nuclear missiles and to refrain from extending the
arms race to Outer Space. They called for the early conclusion in
the Geneva Conference on Disarmament of a Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty and a Convention to Ban Chemical Weapons. They declared their
intention to continue their efforts to contribute to the realisation
of the objective of halting the nuclear arms race and eliminating
nuclear weapons. They declared their resolve to support every effort
to conclude a treaty prohibiting vertical and horizontal
proliferation of nuclear weapons.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed their deep concern at
the fast and continuing degradation of the environment, including
extensive destruction of forests, in the South Asian region. They
also noted that South Asia was afflicted with such natural disasters
as floods, droughts, landslides, cyclones, tidal waves which have
had a particularly severe impact recently, causing immense human
suffering. At the same time they expressed concern over the danger
posed by the global sea level rise and its effects on South Asian
countries. These natural disasters and the degradation of the
environment were severely undermining the development process and
prospects of the member countries. They, therefore, decided to
intensify regional cooperation with a view to strengthening their
disaster management capabilities. They also decided to commission a
study for the protection and preservation of the environment and to
the causes and consequences of natural disasters in a well-planned
comprehensive framework. They entrusted the Secretary-General with
this task.
- The Heads of State or Government reaffirmed their conviction that
the region being most populous in the world and having age-old
socio-cultural links, rich and varied human and natural resources,
offered immense scope and potential for regional cooperation and
that the growing interaction among its people had added stimulus
towards this end. They reiterated their determination to pursue
their individual and collective efforts for the optimal utilisation
of the vast human and untapped natural and other material resources.
- The Heads of State or Government reviewed with satisfaction the
progress made so far in the implementation of the SAARC Integrated
Programme of Action and emphasised the need to further consolidate
and streamline the process. They were conscious of the need to
exercise greater discretion in the selection of activities in
different sectors. They took note of the criteria and procedures
relating to administrative structuring and financing of regional
institutions endorsed by the SAARC Council of Ministers. They
directed that the establishment of such regional institutions should
proceed only after taking into account their viability and benefits
to the member countries with due consideration to economy and
efficiency.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed satisfaction at the
launching of the SAARC Audio Visual Exchange programme coinciding
with the opening of the Third SAARC Summit in Kathmandu. While
taking note of the dates for the institution of the SAARC Chairs,
Fellowships and Scholarships and the commencement of Organised
Tourism among SAARC member countries, they directed that the schemes
for the SAARC Documentation Centre and the SAARC Youth Volunteer
Programme be implemented at the earliest.
- The Heads of State or Government noted with satisfaction the
signing of the Agreement establishing a South Asian Food Security
Reserve and expressed confidence that this will provide a
much-needed cushion against food shortages and scarcity situations
in the region.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed happiness at the
signing of the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism
and considered it a historic step towards the prevention and
elimination of terrorism from the region. In this regard, they also
reiterated their unequivocal condemnation of all acts, methods and
practice of terrorism as criminal and expressed their abhorrence of
their impact on life and property, socio-economic development,
political stability, regional peace and cooperation.
- The Heads of State or Government reaffirmed their agreement to
expand SAARC activities in other concrete areas of cooperation in
order to ensure more tangible benefits from SAARC to the peoples of
the region. They were convinced that regional cooperation could be
consolidated and expanded on the basis of growing regional
complementarities and inter dependence. They believed that the SAARC
long-term perspective should, therefore, focus on measures to expand
and strengthen such areas of regional complementarities and
interdependence not only through formulation and implementation of
more concrete and action-oriented programmes but also through
coordination of national policies and approaches for finding common
solutions to their common problems.
- The Heads of State or Government welcomed the first annual review
of the Situation of Children in the SAARC member countries. They
reiterated their commitment made in the Bangalore Declaration to
accord highest priority to the needs of children in national
development planning and emphasised that more intensified action
should be taken for the welfare and well-being of children. They
further reiterated their call for an early conclusion and adoption
of a United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed their satisfaction at
the establishment of the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu,
strengthening further the process of regional cooperation in South
Asia. They expressed their gratitude to His Majesty King Birendra
Bir Bikram Shah Dev for most graciously inaugurating the SAARC
Secretariat.
- The Heads of State or Government were conscious of the
aspirations of the peoples of South Asia to communicate and
cooperate with each other at the people-to-people level. They
recognised that academics, researchers, non-governmental
organizations and others have an important role to play in promoting
the SAARC spirit and giving impetus to regional programmes and
projects. They further observed that the interest and enthusiasm so
far demonstrated by the increased interactions and exchange of
information at the inter-governmental level should be capitalised
and translated into tangible programmes and projects. They
recognised the vast potential for the generation of friendship,
goodwill and trust through interactions between the peoples which
would foster harmonious relations in South Asia.
- The Heads of State or Government expressed their deep conviction
that the Kathmandu Summit has further consolidated the gains of
SAARC and given a renewed thrust and direction to the future course
of regional cooperation. They were also convinced that the Kathmandu
Summit has helped to create an atmosphere conducive to strengthening
this process, besides generating further goodwill and friendship
among the member countries in the larger interest of the region.
- The Heads of State or Government were conscious that SAARC should
be increasingly oriented to the people's needs and aspirations so
that the masses of the region could be drawn to a greater extent
into the mainstream of SAARC activities. This, they firmly held,
would help bring about a qualitative improvement in the general
atmosphere of the region contributing to peace, friendship and
cooperation in the areas.
- The Heads of State or Government reiterated their firm commitment
to the spirit and objectives with which the South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation was launched and reaffirmed their
determination to work, individually and collectively, towards the
attainment of these objectives.
- The Heads of State or Government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were deeply appreciative of the
exemplary manner in which His Majesty the King of Nepal discharged
his responsibilities as Chairman of the Meeting. They expressed
their profound gratitude for the warm and gracious hospitality
extended to them by His Majesty's Government and the people of Nepal
and for the excellent arrangements made for the Meeting.
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