SAARC to BIMSTEC: Breakdown or Breakthrough in Regional Cooperation?

Regional cooperation across South Asia remains difficult, as structural impediments, governance gaps, and civil exclusion challenge shared goals.

SAARC to BIMSTEC: Breakdown or Breakthrough in Regional Cooperation? explores the persistent challenges and evolving possibilities of regionalism in South Asia. Tracing the trajectory from SAARC's founding vision to the emergence of BIMSTEC, the book examines why regional cooperation in this part of the world has remained elusive despite shared geography, history, and development goals.

At its core, the work identifies three structural impediments that continue to undermine meaningful collaboration: the absence of a clear political mandate from member states, the limitations of the SAARC Secretariat, and the exclusion of civil society from the regional process. Without addressing these foundational issues, neither SAARC nor BIMSTEC can effectively reconcile national priorities with the broader regional good.

Set against the shifting dynamics of the Indo-Pacific, this study highlights how time, technology, and global competition have intensified both the risks and opportunities confronting South and Trans-Himalayan Asia. It calls for a renewed vision of regional cooperation one that moves beyond political posturing toward a more balanced framework of shared governance and collective progress.

Table of Contents

• List of Figures and Tables 9
• Foreword 11
• Acknowledgements 14
• 1. Introduction 15
• 2. Nepal in SAARC: A Longer-Term Perspective 41
• 3. Issues before the SAARC Summit 56
• 4. Poverty and Violence in South Asia 71
• 5. South Asian University and South Asia in
• New Age 75
• 6. South Asian University and 25 Years of SAARC 86
• 7. Implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in South Asia 91
• 8. Seventh Regional Workshop for Police Officers, Prosecutors, and Judges in South Asia on Effectively Countering Terrorism 101
• 9. EU-SAARC Relations 108
• 10. Democracy and Inclusive Good Governance for Gender Equality and Sustainable Development in South Asia 127
• 11. Transforming SAARC: Preparing South Asia for a New Age 132
• 12. Afghanistan in SAARC: Towards Deeper Engagement 148
• 13. South Asia in the New World Order 155
• 14. SAARC in 26 and 30 Years 165
• 8 Contents
• 15. Issues for the 18th SAARC Summit 169
• 16. BIMSTEC as a Regional Security Organization: De?ja? vu or a New Beginning? 175
• 17. Afghanistan: The Way Forward? 192
• 18. Cultural and Civilizational Linkages among
• BIMSTEC Countries 196
• Bibliography 201
• Index 213

Dr. Shambhu Ram Simkhada is a distinguished scholar-diplomat and former Permanent Repre­sentative of Nepal to the United Nations in Geneva and Ambassador to Switzerland.