The seven South Asian countries eventually established the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in 1985 at Dhaka summit attended by the heads of all the seven countries. The regional alliance of the seven countries pledged to alleviate the grinding poverty in the region since its inception and repeated efforts were made to materialise this main objective of the Saarc. But due to various reasons it could not make substantial progress towards poverty alleviation, though commitments by the leaders to alleviate poverty in the region have been regularly made in all the Saarc summits so far held. So vast segment of people in the region are still standing in the place after twenty years, where they had once stood with poverty.

The independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (Isacpa) was formed by the Saarc leaders in the sixth summit held in 1991 in Colombo, realising the imperative need to address poverty and also to suggest strategies and measures to alleviate poverty in the region. The commission submitted its report in the seventh Saarc summit held in 1993 in Dhaka and suggested a radical conceptual framework for poverty alleviation through social mobilsation. The summit, however, welcomed the report and made commitment to eradicate poverty from South Asia through an agenda for action.

A three-tier mechanism was approved in the eighth Saarc summit held in New Delhi in 1995 with a view to dealing with the issue of poverty eradication. The first-tier comprised the secretaries to the governments concerned with poverty eradication and social development in Saarc countries. The second-tier was comprised of finance and planning secretaries and the third-tier comprised finance and planning ministers. A ministerial meeting of the three-tier mechanism for poverty eradication held in New Delhi recommended that the Saarc countries should establish network arrangements for regular exchange of information to share experiences on poverty alleviation. At the ninth summit, the Saarc leaders noted with satisfaction the establishment of the three-tier mechanism and endorsed the recommendation made in the first round ministerial meeting held in New Delhi and the second round meeting of the Saarc planning ministers held in Islamabad.

The tenth Saarc summit held in Colombo in 1998 observed that human resources development is the key element for poverty alleviation of South Asian people. The summit agreed for establishment of the Saarc Human Resources Development Centre in Pakistan to contribute to the human resources development with a view to strengthening the regional poverty eradication programmes. The UNDP initiated the South Asian Poverty Alleviation Programme (Sapap) as a response to the seventh Saarc summit held in 1993 in Dhaka. The Saarc Human Resource Development Centre (Shrdc) which was established in Islamabad in 1999 with the objectives of undertaking research, imparting training and providing information on human resource development to cater to the future need, could not make any remarkable progress in achieving its regional goal.

The heads of government of the Saarc countries also urged all donor agencies and international bodies to increase their support and assistance to the poverty eradication programme in this region. Initiatives of UNDP, ADB, FAO and World Bank need special mention which strived to design and implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programmes for economic and social development both at national and regional level. ICT has become an indispensable tool in fighting against poverty in recent times. The Saarc countries, whose economic backbone is agriculture, have greater role in implementing ICT applications for improving agricultural productivity with the goal of poverty alleviation in the region.

Although the individual member countries of the Saarc have had varied experiences in achieving their goal of poverty eradication, the overall progress in the region was very slow. As such the Saarc leaders recommended for reconstitution of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (Isacpa) in the eleventh summit and also undertook a realistic approach to the poverty eradication programmes in the region. As mandated by the eleventh Saarc summit held in Kathmandu in January 2002, the first Saarc Regional Poverty Profile was also prepared. Meanwhile the reconstituted Isacpa finalised its report, outlining the strategy and road map for alleviating poverty in the region.

Poverty in the Saarc countries is widespread with a complex phenomenon of both income and non-income components of poverty. After limping for quite a long time, the regional alliance has started its real journey towards cooperation. Bangladesh and Pakistan agreed to the need of forming a Saarc development fund for alleviation of poverty in the Saarc countries. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had floated the idea and proposed for formation of the Saarc development fund during her talks with the Prime Minister of Pakistan who visited Dhaka in last November to discuss Saarc and other bilateral issues with his Bangladesh counterpart. Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who is also the current chairman of Saarc, agreed to create a fund for poverty alleviation programme in the South Asian region. Both the South Asian leaders noted with concern the pressing problem of poverty alleviation in the Saarc countries and agreed to create the fund with contributions from all the member countries.

According to a report published in The Daily Star on September 22, the Saarc members may set up a fund of $500 million to one billion for poverty eradication programmes in this region. Decision on the matter may be taken in the forthcoming Saarc summit. A technical committee comprising representatives from the central banks of all the member countries has already started working on the modality of the fund. The committee has already reported its progress at the Saarc Finance Governors' symposium held in Mumbai in September. The Daily Star report also said that the contribution of each country to the fund will be determined on the basis of a certain country's foreign currency reserve, its import and export volume, balance of payment position and size of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Allocation from the fund for each country will be determined on the basis of its per capita income, poverty rate and other related indicators.

It is also learnt that the relatively rich members of the Saarc are less enthusiastic about the fund as they will have to contribute more to the fund and will receive less from it, according to the draft modality of the Saarc Poverty Fund. Besides, a difference of opinion between India and Pakistan has surfaced on the size of the fund. Pakistan desires the initial fund size to be over $ one billion while India seeks an initial amount of $ 500 million on the grounds that it is still in the primary stage and the fund size can increased after observing the results. International donor agencies like World Bank and Asian Development Bank may also contribute to Saarc Poverty Fund. The leaders of the Saarc countries are expected to reach the consensus to provide a fillip to the quest for necessary fund to finance the Saarc poverty alleviation projects, which is an imperative need.

More than one billion people in the seven South Asian countries have once again started to see a ray of hope as the Saarc leaders have agreed on a plan to create a poverty alleviation fund to deal with the overwhelming problem of poverty alleviation. The poverty alleviation pursuits of Saarc need to be supported by necessary fund. The 13th Dhaka summit is looking forward to productive deliberations that will take the two-decade-old regional forum into the third decade with more action-oriented programmes for closer cooperation in various fields including poverty alleviation. We, along with the millions of people of South Asia hope that the Saarc leaders will wholeheartedly support formation of the Saarc development fund for poverty alleviation. Collective Saarc approach supported by necessary fund is an imperative need to deal with such an overwhelming problem in the region.

ANM Nurul Haque is a banker.