ABSTRACT
There has been particular interest from the outside world and this is evident from the number of observers and cooperation in international development organisations. Since 2005, the so-called project implementation phase of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been of immense interest, as evident by the increasing number of regional projects. Since the European Union (EU) is considered the world over the most popular and relatively successful regional bloc of the world, it is not surprising that organisations like SAARC are compared with it and can draw lessons for adoption or adaptation to emulate its successes. Similarly, by considering Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a more suitable case for SAARC than the EU, there have been attempts to incorporate ideas from ASEAN in SAARC, especially in the areas of conflict management and economic integration.
