SAARC and foreign policy thinking

AT ELECTION time in Sri Lanka, there is a marked tendency to relegate foreign policy issues to the background on the part of the local polity.

The current Presidential election campaign does not seem to be an exception to this rule with the main Presidential contenders making only minimal reference to such questions.

Even if such issues are realised, the country's ethnic conflict usually emerges as a backdrop to these pronouncements although Sri Lanka's foreign policy covers a wider range of issues.

This is an unfortunate trend in the local political process because foreign policy issues need to be discussed widely and should encompass the totality of the Lankan electorate if a national consensus is to be formed on our foreign policy perspectives, besides raising public awareness on the points at issue in local foreign policy formulation.

For instance, what is the attitude of those hoping to rule this country towards SAARC and the issues flowing from this country's engagement with this regional grouping? One of the worst things which could befall SAARC is for its membership to consider the SAARC process yet another routine matter.

That is, play annual ritualistic homage to SAARC and its aims and operations and relegate the organisation to the low priority list until the time of the next annual summit.

We need to face the reality that this is what is ailing SAARC most although regional inter-state tensions among some SAARC members have also taken their toll.

This should never be in the future. For, this is the age of the regional groupings and the Common Market.

Today, the European Common Market is one of the most result-oriented inter-state economic mechanisms. Widely considered a model economic grouping, its euro has emerged as one of the world's hardest currencies.

The secret of its success is its membership's unyielding commitment to make the EU a thriving success in economic cooperation.

Likewise, more dynamism needs to be injected into the SAARC process by its members, bearing in mind the rich harvest of economic and other benefits which await them if they make a concerted, resourceful effort to forge unity and economic cooperation among themselves, besides strengthening regional ties in other areas.

Accordingly, the current Presidential hopefuls should tell us what their approach to SAARC is. They need to also tell us how they would be fashioning our foreign policy and what their perspectives are on matters foreign.

Fortunately, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has salvaged the situation somewhat by making a forceful case for a South Asian Common Market at 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka.

SAARC needs to fully exploit its economic complementarities through a Common Market strategy or a Free Trade Area rather than look farther a field for economic opportunities, which may be very slow in coming.

While SAARC members need to continue to seek global market opportunities, this should be coupled with an unwaning effort to forge regional economic cooperation, EU style, which could bring richer and faster economic dividends. SAARC also needs to forge a regional consensus on divisive global economic issues at fora such as the WTO.

President Kumaratunga's call to SAARC to forge closer cooperation in the area of natural disaster detection and management is also most timely and should receive the full attention of SAARC.

The tsunami of December 2004 and the recent earthquake catastrophe in Pakistan should remind us that the SAARC region is one of the most natural disaster-prone areas of the globe. Cooperation to face these situations could no longer be postponed.

The establishment of the SAARC Cultural Centre in Kandy drives home the point that regional cooperation goes well beyond economic and material issues.

Cultural integrity and independence goes hand in hand with other forms of self-reliance. Accordingly, President Kumaratunga's call for a celebration of SAARC Cultural commonalities should also be strongly considered.

It could be seen then, that Lanka needs to be dynamic and proactive in her foreign policy formulation and implementation. Foreign policy issues just cannot be swept under the carpet as matters of secondary importance.