“Before, there was too little work. Now there is too much.”
SAARC Secretary General Naeem U Hasan assumed office on I January 1996, and has presided over a period when the organisation seems to have, at long last, picked up some steam. He spoke to Himal South Asia amidst preparations for the Male summit, 9-11 May.
Is SAARC doing better as it enters its second decade?
Definitely, there has been an acceleration in activities. Whereas, in the past, meetings were limited to foreign ministers, now there are a lot of sectoral meetings. For example, the agriculture ministers of the region met before the food summit in Rome to chart out a common position, and the same happened for housing ministers before the habitat conference in Istanbul. This trend began with environment ministers coordinating their stance before the Rio Summit of 1992, but the process has now become institutionalised. The environment ministers have met recently again to prepare for the upcoming special session of the General Assembly on the environment.