Trailović, Dragan (2021) Regional Cooperation Mechanisms in Central and South Asia – Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Azijske sveske/Asian Issues, 7 (1). pp. 53-77. ISSN 2217-8813

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Abstract

The economic, political, cultural, as well as overall social development of the Central and South Asian countries, largely depends on how they cooperate in numerous areas of interest. Regional integration and regional cooperation of states in Central and South Asia have become very important in the last few decades, especially after the independence of the Central Asian Republics. This is primarily important both because of the current globalization trends on the one hand and because of the spread of regionalism in the world on the other. In particular, for these countries, the issue of regional cooperation has always been a top priority, especially because both regions - Central and South Asia - are characterized by a large number of open political, economic, territorial, and ethnic issues, as well as threats to peace and security due to terrorism. In such circumstances, regional cooperation is seen as one of the basic ways to solve these problems. Another issue is whether and to what extent this type of regional cooperation has been achieved due to the existence of all the mentioned problems. Although there are several regional mechanisms and organizations in these regions - the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - that have strong economic and political influence, there are also lesser known regional mechanisms with great potential to make a significant contribution to the overall regional cooperation in this geopolitical space. Taking that fact into account, this paper aims to present these regional organizations and programs of economic, and to a certain extent, political cooperation, between the countries of Central and South Asia – Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) - through the history of their origin, organizational structure, ways of functioning and decision making, goals and principles on which they are based.

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