“The Emergence of Regional trade Blocs with Special Reference to SAARC”

Abstract

This Paper aims to access the performance of regional Trade blocs in general and Saarc in particular, with special attention being paid to India- Pakistan relations and its impact on Saarc. The performance of SAARC is also compared with that of other trade blocs. Data used in this paper consists mainly of graphs and tables and is taken from research papers on the internet and from newspapers. The paper opens with a history of trade blocs, why they are important and then the paper moves on to the literature review in which research papers have been analyzed. Hypothesis and Research methodology are provided next .Findings and analysis cover the next section It is discussed in this section as to why SAARC has not been able to perform to its expectations and what is the future of SAARC now after the introduction of SAFTA. The paper then presents a conclusion and offers a few suggestions as to how the performance of SAARC can be improved and its benefits for the people of the region.