CA discusses revival of SAARC with new US Ambassador to India

Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus has raised the issue of reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) during a meeting with Sergio Gor, the newly appointed US Ambassador to India who also holds the role of Special Envoy for South and Central Asia.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

According to Dhaka’s account, Dr Yunus told Gor that the interim government is working to re-energize SAARC, which has not held a summit for over a decade.

SAARC, which is meant to hold summits every two years, last convened in Kathmandu in 2014. The 2016 Islamabad summit was cancelled after a terrorist attack in Uri, India, with New Delhi accusing Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism. Since then, India has stalled SAARC summits, while continuing bilateral and regional cooperation with other member states, and instead pushed BIMSTEC as an alternative platform.

Although US statements have touched on regional cooperation, they have not specifically mentioned SAARC. Dhaka did not disclose Gor’s response to Dr Yunus’s proposal, but observers noted that India is wary of external pressure on the issue. Islamabad had earlier proposed a virtual SAARC summit, but that possibility collapsed after renewed India-Pakistan clashes following a militant attack in Pahalgam.

India, while not formally withdrawing from SAARC, maintains that no real change has occurred since 2016. Countries like Bangladesh and Nepal are in favor of reviving the forum, but consensus among member states remains elusive.

New Delhi has also been closely watching trilateral engagements such as the recent China-Pakistan-Bangladesh meeting in Kunming, suspecting it could signal the formation of a new bloc. Dhaka later clarified that the meeting was not aimed against any country.

During the meeting, Dr Yunus also discussed the Rohingya crisis with Gor and raised concerns about disinformation being spread about Bangladesh, including reports in Indian media about attacks on Hindus, which he previously dismissed as “fake news.”

Dhaka further conveyed its interest in joining ASEAN, with Dr Yunus saying that closer integration with Southeast Asian economies would accelerate Bangladesh’s development.

He also assured Gor that Bangladesh is preparing to hold a free, fair and peaceful national election in the first half of February.