Assignment
On
Corporate Legal
Environment
Submitted To:-
Submitted By:-Mr. NitinGoel
Ankit Jain
MBA- 3RD /A
Roll No:- 117181
SAARC SUMMIT
The 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit kicked off here
on Thursday with the theme of "Building Bridges - both in terms of physical connectivity and
figurative political dialogue".
At the opening speech, 16th SAARC Chairman and Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinley
said, "I am deeply honored to open the 17th session in the pristine island of Addu. Holding the
summit south of the equator is truly a reminder of the vastness of our region and its diversity,"
said Thinley.
He remarked that Bhutan's chairmanship was a successful one with key developments on food
security, renewable energy and establishment of the SAARC campus. He also thanked the South
Asian governments for the assistance given to him during his tenure.
This was followed by the inaugural address that was made by Maldivian President Mohamed
Nasheed.
Nasheed said, "I believe that the 21st Century will be Asia's century. I believe that Asia, and
South Asia in particular, is becoming more powerful and more prominent than any other time in
our history. In short, I believe the future is ours to shape. Our economies are booming. Our
political influence is growing. And our ability to shape the course of world affairs has never
been stronger."
"Our populations are youthful and energetic. Our thinkers, researchers and scientists are
globally renowned. Our culture is internationally acclaimed. Our private sector companies are
some of the world's largest and most profitable. For too long, South Asia was considered a
sideshow in the theater of global politics. But today, we occupy center stage. The eyes of the
world are upon us. This is our time to shine," said Nasheed.
The SAARC region has great wealth, he said, adding that it is possible for the people to have a
decent life. He insisted that they want to live in societies of law and order so that they can have
a decent life. Growing economies and deepening democracies and ensuring stability is the
possibility of south Asia.
"For this we must work together. Economic stagnation in one member nation causes insecurity
in another. We must integrate economically and create a political environment that creates
security. There are many reasons to be positive Afghanistan remains stable and as a region we
must assist them," he said.
President Nasheed said that key aspects, among others, trade and transport connection,
economic integration climate change, disaster management, will be the top agenda in the
summit.
Nasheed said, "The theme of this summit is building bridges. I hope one of the things we can
achieve, at this and future summits is greater integration and co-operation between SAARC
countries.
The Republic of Maldives declared "Building Bridges" as the theme for the 17th SAARC
Summit.
"Building Bridges - both in terms of physical connectivity and figurative political dialogue.
However, the notion of bridging differences would be represented as the overarching theme of
the summit rather than any set diplomatic or development aims," a statement issued by the
Maldivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
President Nasheed said, "Today, the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers met in the lovely
setting of the Shangri La in the Maldives. These developments are extremely welcome. I hope
all political parties in India and Pakistan applaud these encouraging moves. I hope this summit
will be enthused with optimism. And I hope both countries can work to resolve their core
issues."
Earlier in the day, Indian and Pakistan prime ministers met for talks in what seems to be one of
the focal points of the summit. Increasing warmth of relations were observed during the talks
between the two parties with hopes for a "new chapter" opening during the next round of talks.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit will be held on
November 10-11 in Maldives. Like ASEAN, SAARC is a regional organization that seeks to
promote economic, technological, social and cultural development through cooperation and
integration efforts. Its member countries include the South Asian countries of Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. The Republic of Maldives
declared Building Bridges both in terms of physical connectivity and figurative political
dialogue as the theme for the 17th SAARC Summit this year.
It is the mission of the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) to increase the voices of CSOs in
shaping the regional agenda, given the limited space for civil society participation in Asian
regional formations like ASEAN, SAARC, EAS, APEC, etc. In light of this, EquityBD, an
APRN member and an NGO based in Bangladesh, has come up with a series of campaign papers
to tackle various issues confronting South Asia and its peoples, as part of the campaign to
promote the peoples agenda in the upcoming SAARC Summit.
The people of South Asia are free from poverty and deprivation, living with dignity and enjoying
peace and social justice
To facilitate civil society working together to achieve the rights and prosperity of people in a
peaceful South Asia.
A vibrant civil society presence advocating and acting in cooperation across South Asia to
achieve concrete advancements in human development and human security.
As an international organization based in South Asia, SAP International and its members have
identified its role as one of Regional Advocacy by the civil society for peace and social justice
in South Asia. This role means the promotion and facilitation of a variety of coordinated actions
to give an articulate and clear voice to people of the region for political, economic and social
changes to fulfill their rights.
Programs
These programming lines will serve SAP International as it explores, designs and delivers new,
more focused actions. SAP-I will give priority to the two themes in identifying future initiatives
and look for opportunities as well under the common, CSO-defined agenda of its series of
People's Summits.
To address the issues identified by SAP International in the areas of governance, peace and
livelihoods, platforms at the regional and national levels will be created. Regional forums will be
established among like-minded organizations for collaborative advocacy campaigning. Regional
cooperative initiatives will be promoted to lobby with SAARC and its member governments.
Capacity building of CSOs will be enhanced at various levels to address the issues. Networking
among CSOs and institutions working on the issues of governance, peace and livelihoods will be
established. The media will be used as a key tool for mass education, sensitization and
campaigning. Gender equality, human rights, and environment concerns will be cross cutting
issues to be integrated into all the initiatives.
Resources
SAP International has operated in the past on two pillars: the organizational strength and
commitment from its SAP member organizations and other allied groups, and financial resources
generated for specific regional programs and projects. The asset of SAP-I, its regional position
and structure has served to attract international support but also acts as a liability because many
in the international donor community do include regional actions in their frame of reference.
SAP-I will work to overcome this limitation by aiming to convince other organizations in the
North and South of the valuable place of regional initiatives, particularly for advocacy on critical
issues not confined to nation states.
In future, SAP International will support the programming and campaigns in a variety of ways,
including:
Direct requests to international donors and partners
Support contributed by partners working in alliance on specific initiatives
National donor and partner contributions through national SAP requests to support
actions in particular countries
The major challenge to overcome for the organizational sustainability is the development of
effective strategies for collective ownership for strategic actions to establish a Forum for
Advocacy for the organization. SAP I needs to adopt an effective mechanism that reflect grass
roots sensitivity in the regional programs. Strategies should also be adopted for minimizing
donor dependency and maximizing local initiatives for sustaining regional advocacy initiatives.
Therefore, a challenging task in front of SAP I is to develop appropriate plans, policies and
strategies to reduce dependency on external funding. Improving sensitivity among donors and
funding agencies towards support for regional issue based programs, organizations and networks
is another challenges in front of SAP I. It needs to devote a lot of effort to revitalize its credible
image in the development community along with donor institutions as an organization working
to establish a vibrant civil society for advocacy and action in cooperation across South Asia to
achieve concrete advancements in human development and human security. It has to develop an
alternative fund raising mechanism within the organization to diversify the funding sources of
the organization.
Strategy
To advance these themes, SAP International will employ different strategies working through a
number of varied programs and projects to build the capacities of the civil society
organizations and networks; to form alliances among CSOs nationally, regionally and
internationally; to generate and share knowledge among CSOs on key human development and
security issues of the region; and ultimately, to mount specific civil society campaigns to
achieve critical public awareness of the issues and advocate particular policy changes and
government actions.
Boundary Partners
The boundary partners of SAP International are SAP Nationals, the Civil Society of South Asia,
South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Regional Institutions and
Agencies.
Conclusion
The major tasks in the SAP countries are positioning SAP organizations more strategically for
policy advocacy, sustainable poverty eradication strategies and effective programmatic
interventions; strengthening the democratic institutions and local governance with effective
political participation of women and the marginalized sections for inclusive governance for
addressing the people's needs; building solidarity among CSOs to make the voice of the poor and
marginalized heard; making the SAP system transparent, accountable, responsive and responsible
to the people; and mobilizing support to strengthen peace initiatives within and between the
nations.
Poor and Marginalized Communities
The poor, the marginalized and socially excluded namely the Dalits, women, children,
ethnicminorities and the aged are the primary stakeholders in the process of social
transformation, economic development and governance. But they are denied of the primary space
in all these aspects. In all the South Asian countries the NGOs, both development and activist-
oriented, are engaged in organizing the poor and marginalized into grassroots community-based
organizations to assert their rights, to strengthen livelihoods and improve their quality of life.
Self-help development through processes like Self Help Group (SHG) based micro finance
activities have gained universal acceptance now. Much wider coming together of CBOs is
necessary to make the voice of the poor directly heard. Through CBOs effective participation of
the poor and marginalized in governance, starting from local level has to be ensured.
Government
The governments in each country are the biggest development agencies but lack sensitivities to
grassroots realities and peoples' needs. Gradually, there is a realization of the need to involve
NGOs in development work but inflexibility, corruption and high level of bureaucratic approach
makes it difficult for genuine NGOs to collaborate. Therefore, ensuring good governance at
different levels is an imperative and urgent need.
Civil Society
The civil society in all South Asian countries represent a vibrant, dynamic and active actor
involved in grassroots development & empowerment work, in building people's institutions for
self-reliance, in facilitating networking, alliance and platform building and citizens' activism and
policy advocacy. But the lack of convergence and complementarity, isolation and scatteredness,
lack of proper perspectives and strategies have come in the way of using the fullest potential to
advocate the case of poor & marginalized, make their voice heard in the respective countries,
region and global forums effectively.
Corporate Sector
Corporate sector is now entering in a big way to invest into social development of the poor. With
the insistence of the State and the grassroots institutions of the poor, the corporate sector has now
started parting away with a small portion of their huge profits reflecting "Corporate
Philanthropy" and "Corporate Social Responsibility". Like with government, working with
corporate sector provides opportunities and threats (of losing autonomy and own identity).
Working with Corporate Sector like software companies do not pose a dilemma for NGOs unlike
with those who do not follow fair production and trade practices as well as those who contribute
to environment hazards which is contradictory to the objectives for which NGOs work.
