Consolation at summit: Handshake salvages S Asian electricity deal

Nawaz, Modi exchange smiles and warm words in Kathmandu.

KATHMANDU:

A brief meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Thursday salvaged the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit, with the eight-member bloc clinching a last-minute deal to create a regional electricity grid.

The two leaders shook hands at a mountain retreat outside Kathmandu and then again before the curtain went down on the conference. Television showed premiers Nawaz and Modi grinning broadly and exchanging a few words.

“Both [Nawaz and Modi] are talking in a friendly manner,” Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Kumar Koirala told reporters, when asked if his country, as summit host, had helped break the ice. The two premiers also reportedly spoke to each other in a waiting room.

Except for these brief exchanges, the two leaders had spent most of the summit cold-shouldering each other. Ahead of the summit, the two announced that there would be no ‘structured’ talks between their prime ministers at the sidelines of the event. On the first day, both Nawaz and Modi ignored each other dismissing chances of any breakthrough in defusing the situation.

At the concluding session of the Saarc summit, South Asian leaders finalised the electricity pact and agreed to improve cross-border energy trade in the power-starved region.

Earlier in the day, South Asian states had tried to pile pressure on Pakistan to salvage the summit by agreeing to electricity sharing and the free movement of vehicles across borders.

But the failure to sign two other proposed pacts, on road and rail connectivity, was seen as an indication of the group’s limitations. The leaders had expressed frustration with the slow pace of progress towards greater regional integration since the group was first launched nearly three decades ago.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Nepal’s premier said Saarc’s achievements had fallen short as he urged his regional counterparts to ‘summon the political will’ to translate their words into action.

“Despite several transformative potentials in the region, our achievement stands short of expectations,” he said in his speech. “We alone are responsible for shortcomings in the Saarc process.”

Referring to the fact that trade among Saarc member nations still accounts for less than five per cent of South Asia’s total commerce, Koirala added that there was ‘no justification’ for such deprivation in a region rich in natural resources.

In the closing declaration, the summit members pledged to jumpstart “free trade in goods and services in the region” and combat “terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms.”

They also committed to eradicating poverty in South Asia and agreed to crack down on drug trafficking, money laundering and other transnational crimes in the region.

The next Saarc summit will be held in Islamabad in 2016, Koirala said. Pakistan has previously hosted the Saarc summit twice before. No dates for the next conference have been agreed upon so far, Prime Minister Nawaz’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said.

In his brief address at the concluding session, Prime Minister Nawaz said: “Pakistan will be looking forward to welcome you [leaders of all member states] to the 19th Saarc summit in Islamabad in 2016.”

He thanked Nepal’s Premier Koirala for hosting the 18th summit and for the warm welcome and hospitality he received during his stay in Kathmandu. Premier Nawaz also congratulated all the participating countries on successful completion of the conference and called on them to adopt a ‘realistic and pragmatic step-by-step approach’ to resolve their issues.

After the closing ceremony, Prime Minister Nawaz left for Islamabad from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport. He was seen off by Nepal’s deputy prime minister and other senior officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2014.

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