The SAARC Secretariat should play an active role in the region’s response to COVID-19, along with “someone in-charge”, according to Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
“I don’t know if it can be handled from Kathmandu alone. If you can, well and good. But you may need another city. It can be Bengaluru, Colombo, any city,” he said on Friday.
“This is a good time for a regional cooperation programme. This is a global pandemic without a global leadership. Maybe the region can’t provide leadership for all. But the first virtual meeting of SAARC leaders was good, looking at the background and the problems that are there.”
Edited excerpts from an interview:
Well before the COVID-19 crisis hit us, you have been an advocate of greater regional cooperation. How can it help at such a time?
You see, this is a good time for a regional cooperation programme. This is a global pandemic without a global leadership. Maybe the region can’t provide leadership for all. But the first virtual meeting of SAARC leaders was good, looking at the background and the problems that are there.
We must treat this as a humanitarian issue and come up with a regional response. Maybe one or two countries, for instance India and one other, could put up a proposal, which then can be looked at by others, and possibly amended. Let us all work together. We [Sri Lanka], for instance have a good public health system. So has Kerala. We can work together on that.
The issue then is how do you handle it in the northern part of India. Then, what happens in Nepal has a bearing here. Except for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives, all the other countries have mountainous areas – whether it is India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan. I think this is a good time to work on this and being a humanitarian project, everyone can come around it. I would say SAARC because as far as BIMSTEC is concerned, the ASEAN countries are already working out a programme. That would take two other BIMSTEC countries out. So, within SAARC we should work.
You emphasise the SAARC’s role in combating COVID-19. Countries in the region have each pledged funds – Sri Lanka has pledged $5 million, for instance – to the recently set up SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund. However, each country is administering its funds based on requests made bilaterally, rather than through a common pool.
There has to be a common centre. The SAARC Secretariat and someone who is in-charge. The Secretariat itself has limited staff, so you must have someone in-charge of it. I think it may be better if they are placed somewhere more centrally, working with relevant medical authorities.
We should also ask countries such as Japan for contributions. I am sure Japan would like to come in. Any other country as well – whether it US or China or anyone else willing, then the World Bank, ADB [Asian Development Bank]. We should get together and work on this. India is a member of BRICS, so let them also make some contribution. That would set an example. The EU is still fighting on a EU fund.
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What do you mean when you say centrally located?
I don’t know if it can be handled from Kathmandu alone. If you can, well and good. But you may need another city. It can be Bengaluru, Colombo, any city.
But you see a greater role for the Secretariat too?
Yes, the Secretariat works with the one in-charge. One person overall, who has everyone’s confidence, should deal with it. In regard to the Secretariat, the advantage is that the ambassadors accredited to SAARC are there. That is the plus point of Kathmandu.
When you spoke at The Hindu Huddle in February, you said Indo-Pak tensions shouldn’t pull back the SAARC effort. We already see some tensions in the SAARC COVID-19 response, with Pakistan saying the SAARC Secretariat should handle the funds.
You need someone in-charge there. I’m not saying it is not the Secretariat. But India has a leading role. Pakistan can’t match India’s funding. Let Pakistan make a proposal and one another country should get together. Someone should make a proposal and give it to the Secretary General who will talk with the others, and then we finalise it. Let there be a humanitarian SAARC response. India has a role, so does Pakistan. Actually, the most advance medical knowledge in SAARC is with India, Pakistan. We [Sri Lanka] also have some, Bangladesh