South Asia Democratic Forum

“The South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF) is a Brussels-based think tank devoted to South Asia and its relationship with the European Union (EU) in the context of a global, changing world.” The organisation aims to promote relations between the European Union and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as well as other cooperation spheres that sometimes go beyond the Indian subcontinent. “Our work is organised through two research programmes, one on democracy and the other on regional cooperation. SADF organises high-level contacts, stimulates studies and evaluations, designs and disseminates research methods and concepts, combines networks and supports; it brings together people, private and public institutions, that can contribute to Europe-South Asia related cooperation and understanding.” (https://www.sadf.eu/about/#declaration-of-principles)

Due to its focus on South Asia, SADF has a particular interest in all EU files related to the region and to the countries it comprises, namely Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives.

SADF has been interested in the various strategic documents adopted by the EU in terms of its multilateral relations with the Asian and South Asian region, notably the EU- Asia Connectivity Strategy (“Connecting Europe and Asia – Building blocks for an EU Strategy”, Joint Communication by the European Commission to the European Parliament, the Council,the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Investment Bank, 19.09.2018), the EU Strategy on Central Asia (“The EU and Central Asia: New Opportunities for a Stronger Partnership”, Joint Communication by the High Representative and the European Commission, 15.05.2019) and the EU- Japan Connectivity Partnership

Moreover, in the past years the SADF has closely followed the adoption of various bilateral cooperation agreements between the EU and South Asian countries, such as the EU Strategy on India (Joint Communication of the European Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, 20.11.2018), the EU-India Agenda for Action 2020 adopted jointly at the 2016 EU-India Summit of 16 March 2016, the European Parliament non-legislative resolution of 13 March 2019 regarding the Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development between the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (15093/2016 – C8-0107/2018 – 2015/0302M(NLE)), the EU Country Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society in Afghanistan 2018-2020 of 26 August 2018, as well as Sri Lanka’s integration into the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) of the EU in May 2017. SADF has also actively followed the Midterm Evaluation of Pakistan’s GSP+ Status in 2018 and submitted a report in the framework of a press conference on ‘The ‘Preferences’ of Trade (GSP+)’ hosted by Mr Fulvio Martusciello, MEP on 30 January 2018.

Moreover, the organisation closely monitored the various urgency resolutions adopted by the European Parliament in the past year concerning its countries of interest, for instance the Resolution of 19 September 2019 on Myanmar, notably the situation of the Rohingya (2019/2822(RSP)), the Resolution of 15 November 2018 on the human rights situation in Bangladesh (2018/2927(RSP)) or the Resolution of 14 June 2018 on the situation of Rohingya refugees, in particular the plight of children (2018/2756(RSP)).

http://www.sadf.eu

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Data not provided by Register Secretariat due to GDPR

Think tanks and research institutions