Bangladesh’s Golam Sarwar has been appointed as the next Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), according to an announcement made by Bangladesh’s foreign ministry on Thursday. Sarwar, a career diplomat, currently serves as Bangladesh’s ambassador to Malaysia. He will be the fifteenth person to hold this position and the third Bangladeshi to do so.
The appointment follows the SAARC charter’s rotating system, which selects the Secretary General from among the eight member countries, with India and Pakistan being the major ones. Sarwar has previously served as Bangladesh’s ambassador to Oman and Sweden.
SAARC, founded in 1985 under Bangladesh’s initiative, aims to promote regional cooperation in the economic, technological, social, and cultural spheres. The heads of governments of the member states are scheduled to meet annually. However, the organization has faced challenges in recent years, with its biennial summits not taking place since the last one in Kathmandu in 2014.
In 2016, the SAARC Summit was supposed to be held in Islamabad, but it was called off after India expressed its inability to participate due to the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri. Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the summit. The SAARC comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
While some experts suggest that SAARC remains an indispensable and irreplaceable regional grouping, others propose that forums like BIMSTEC and the South Asia Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ) could complement SAARC instead of replacing it. Some experts believe that a state-centric SAARC could be more successful if civil society takes the lead in its revival.
In conclusion, Bangladesh has announced the appointment of Mohammad Golam Sarwar as the next SAARC Secretary General. Sarwar, a career diplomat, will be the fifteenth person to hold this position and the third Bangladeshi to do so. SAARC aims to foster regional cooperation, but its effectiveness has been limited in recent years. Some experts believe complementary forums could support SAARC, while others emphasize the importance of civil society’s involvement in its revival.
