The eight-nation Saarc needs to involve China and Myanmar, either as new "full members” or in “other ways", to make the 27-year-old regional organisation vibrant and effective, foreign affairs analysts said at a conference yesterday.

“The concept of South Asia and the Saarc needs to be redesigned and re-imagined (with a greater periphery)”, said Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, a professor of international relations at Dhaka University.

He said bureaucracy of the influential member states and their “conservative mindset" appeared to be a major barrier to the expansion and redesigning of Saarc.

A Sri Lankan diplomat, who was unwilling to be identified, told the news agency on the sidelines that China should be involved in the Saarc network, and the matter should be settled with an “open mind" from India. It might not be possible to give China full membership right now, but ways should be

devised to involve China in a big way, he said.

Just-retired election commissioner Sakhawat Hossain came up with the proposal to involve Myanmar as a full member of Saarc, which grouped Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

“I do subscribe to the idea of involving China as a Saarc member, but I also would like to propose Myanmar to be given full membership of it”, he said.

The comments from China, which has now an “observer” status to Saarc along with Japan, were not available immediately, but a couple of participants at the conference opined that Saarc could get a new lease of life with the roles of India and China in it.

More than 10 researchers from Saarc and beyond are scheduled to present their papers in the two-day conference titled "Challenges and Opportunities of the 21st Century Saarc” hosted by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BUSS) in the city.