Vision Academy EducareVision Academy Educare
Question 8 of 45 · International Economic Organisations
Questioneasy
This question was previously asked in

SSC

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established on:

Answer View answer ▾

Answer: Option A — 8 December 1985 in Dhaka

Detailed Solution

SAARC was established on 8 December 1985, when the SAARC Charter was adopted at the first SAARC Summit in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

About SAARC:

  • The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first proposed by President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh in 1980.
  • It had seven founding members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
  • Afghanistan joined as the eighth member in 2007, at the 14th Summit held in New Delhi.
  • Its Secretariat (headquarters) was set up in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 16 January 1987.
  • 8 December is observed as "SAARC Charter Day".
  • Observers include Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea and the USA.
  • Its aims are to promote the welfare of the people of South Asia, accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development, and strengthen cooperation among member states.
  • Its decisions are taken by consensus, and bilateral and contentious issues are excluded from its discussions.

Summits:

  • SAARC summits are supposed to be held every two years.
  • The last (18th) summit was held in Kathmandu in 2014.

The 19th summit, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in 2016, was cancelled after India and several other members refused to attend following the terrorist attack at Uri (September 2016). Since then, SAARC has been largely inactive.

Important SAARC agreements:

  • South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA): signed in 2004, in force from 2006.
  • SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA): 1993.
  • South Asian University, New Delhi, set up by SAARC countries (2010).
  • India has promoted BIMSTEC as an alternative platform for regional cooperation.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗8 August 1967 in Bangkok is when ASEAN was founded.
  • ✗6 June 1997 in Bangkok is when BIMSTEC was founded.
  • ✗1 January 1995 in Geneva is when the WTO was established.

Quick tip

Remember: SAARC = founded 8 December 1985 at Dhaka (7 founders; Afghanistan joined 2007 as the 8th; Secretariat in Kathmandu, 1987); last summit 2014 (Kathmandu); ASEAN = 1967 Bangkok; BIMSTEC = 1997 Bangkok.

💬 Discussions on this question

Ask a doubt ›

Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.

Ask a doubt

More International Economic Organisations Questions

View all ›
  1. Q1.The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in:
  2. Q2.The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are together known as the:
  3. Q3.The Asian Development Bank (ADB) was established on:
  4. Q4.In which year was the grouping BRIC (now BRICS) formally founded with its first summit?
  5. Q5.The headquarters of the UN World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is located in:

More General Knowledge Questions

  1. Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
  2. Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
  3. Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
  4. Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
  5. Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms

International Economic Organisations — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of International Economic Organisations, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers international economic and financial organisations: the IMF, the World Bank group, the WTO, the Asian Development Bank, the New Development Bank, the AIIB, OPEC, the OECD and groupings such as the G20, along with their headquarters, founding and functions. Questions usually ask where an organisation is headquartered, when it was set up, and what it does. For example, the IMF and World Bank were created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the WTO replaced GATT in 1995, and the New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS countries, is headquartered in Shanghai. Practise the international economic organisations questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

‹ All International Economic Organisations questionsBrowse all topics ›