4. High level of trust deficit between South Asian nations- as a result of pending border conflicts, water sharing conflicts etc between the members of the region.

5. Lack of Political Stability amongst member states of SAARC- almost all the SAARC states have suffered from political instability over the past two decades and this further complicates the efforts aimed at building sustainable partnerships between South Asian states.

6. Lack of Implementation: What bars SAARC from achieving the desired effectiveness or speed is the lack of implementation of the agreements on the part of the member states.

7.7.1. Making SAARC Work

♤ A number of initiatives have been agreed upon by the member countries in the 16th SAARC summit held at Thimpu in 2010 & 17th summit at Addu in 2011.

♤ Following steps have been suggested at the 16th summit-

o It was also realised that effective communication and public diplomacy is essential to reach out to students, youth, private media, think tanks, civil society and institutions for economic development. This would be important to popularize the concept of regional cooperation and generate an interest among the people of the region on the activities of SAARC. It would essentially build the image of the organization which many consider as a dead horse.

o An ambitious vision has been adopted. For example: 2010-2020 has been declared “Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC” when member countries themselves are hesitant to provide even bilateral connectivity.

o On the positive side, the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) was ratified and its secretariat was inaugurated in Thimpu. It will finance regional and sub-regional projects.