SAARC is a critical link in the chain: Salman Khurshid

Former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said SAARC is a "critical link in the chain" to promote India's interests in Asia-Pacific and contribute to the region and favoured New Delhi sorting out issues plaguing the organisation.

BIMSTEC leaders were invited for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony last month, which was interpreted in some quarters as part of India's strategy to shaping an alternative regional engagement platform. India had invited SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) leaders for a similar event in 2014.

"BIMSTEC is an organisation that has promise, but I am sure that the promise is very great", Khurshid, also a senior Congress leader, said.\

"If we could have sorted out SAARC, that would be a good link in the chain to BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), and from BIMSTEC to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and from ASEAN to Asia Pacific (region)", he said.

There are "all kinds of organisations" in which India has an interest and where it can contribute, Khurshid noted. "But it's a chain. There is a very critical link in the chain which is missing which is SAARC. I don't think we have been able to do enough for SAARC, I also accept that SAARC has some very, very serious complications but to accept complications and to accept defeat, I don't think is a good sign in foreign policy", he said.

The BIMSTEC member states are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan. SAARC members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Talmiz Ahmad, who had served as an Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE, said recently the decision to invite BIMSTEC leaders for the PM's swearing-in ceremony indicates that India is now shaping an alternative regional engagement platform as "SAARC has no basis to go forward". SAARC, Ahmad contended, has been a non-starter for several years because of the state of Indo-Pak relations.

He said the invitation indicates a strong message that BIMSTEC would receive considerable attention from India.