A Research Guide on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Book excerpt: The regional organization, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), was established in Dhaka on December 8, 1985. In the Organisation, there were initially seven-Member States that are mainly located in South Asia, i.e. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In April 2007, at the Association's 14th summit, Afghanistan became its eighth member. The combined area of the SAARC region is nearly 2 million square miles, which is equivalent up to 3% of the world's geographical expansion, whereas the population among the SAARC nations is over 1.7 billion, which is about 21% of the total population of the world. The Headquarter of SAARC is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. His Excellency Mr. Amjad Hussain B. Sial, a Pakistani diplomat, is the present Secretary General of the organization since March 1, 2017.