Achievements of SAARC:
1. The establishment of SAARC Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) and reduction in tariff and non-tariff barriers on imports.
2. The setting up of Technical Committees for economic cooperation among SAARC countries relating to agriculture, communications, education, health and population, rural development, science and technology, tourism, etc.
3. SAARC has established a three-tier mechanism for exchanging information on poverty reduction programmes which is passed on to member countries.
4. SAARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC) in 1988 works as a central information institution for agriculture related resources like fisheries, forestry, etc.
5. South Asian Development Fund (SADF) for development projects, human resource development and infrastructural development projects. With all these tall claims, the inter- SAARC Trade has not gone beyond three percent in the last 30 years.