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| SAARC meet opens with duty sops by India | | |
NEW DELHI, APR 3
The SAARC summit opened here today with India unilaterally announcing measures to open its market to poor South Asian neighbours with duty-free access and liberalising visa regime showing the way to make the grouping effective for the people in the region.
Leaders from eight countries at the two-day summit sought "bold" steps to root out terrorism in all forms to fulfill the vision of peace, prosperity and cooperation in South Asia.
Afghanistan was formally inducted as the eighth member of SAARC with President Hamid Karzai being welcomed by all the leaders.
In his inaugural address, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that India would unilaterally allow zero-duty access before this year-end to least developed countries among the South Asian neighbours and further reduce the sensitive list of imports. The duty exemption will help Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan.
As a step towards improving people to people contact, Singh said India would liberalise visas for students, teachers, professors, journalists and patients from the SAARC countries.
Pakistan utilised the forum to obliquely rake up the Kashmir issue as a direct co-relation between security and development. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said there was need to resolve the differences and disputes within and between the countries through "dialogue and compromise".
"The political environment in South Asia has remained vitiated by disputes and mistrust," Aziz said adding that the "obstacle of the trust deficit" has to be removed for meaningful cooperation in the region.
Singh, on his part, said South Asia was in the midst of "unprecedented" political and economic transformation.
"The political transitions, painful as they may be, are something that each of us has to work out for ourselves, within our countries and between our governments. I see signs of hope that our governments are now addressing the bilateral political issues that have prevented us from achieving our potential," he said.
For the first time, China, Japan, South Korea, the US and the European Union were invited as Observers at the Summit.
Highlighting the importance of connectivity, Singh made a proposal for linking all SAARC capitals through direct flights.
Observing that energy and food security as also climate change were issues that impacted on development strategies, he advocated a South Asian Energy Community that could start by harmonising grid structures to move on to energy markets that cover the whole region.
Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who is attending the Summit close on the heels of Maoists joining his Government, said a decade long armed conflict in his country has been transformed into a peace process.
He said the firm conviction that democracy alone creates political and economic space for national reconciliation, unites different ethnic groups and manages underlying differences.
Doing some plain speaking, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said "political sponsorship and financing" of terrorism and extremism should be stopped.
"Should we fail in this regard, the progress will be hindered in the entire region and the security will be compromised further," he said.
Both Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and Maldives President Abdul Gayoom shared the view that the SAARC countries needed to be action-oriented rather than being bogged down by rhetoric.
Gayoom, the only leader who attended all the 14 SAARC Summits, said that the regional grouping must widen its impact and have a people-centred approach.
Warning that modern day terrorists operated in a multi-dimensional fashion, Rajapakse said "unless we act collectively as a region, trans-border terrorists will find safe havens in other parts of the region."
Sharing similar concern, Chief Adviser of the Bangladesh Government Fakhruddin Ahmed said that the SAARC countries should address the "root causes" that lead to violent actio ns. "We must make bold efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations", he said.
Singh noted that "economic vibrancy" could be seen in every South Asian country. "The question before us is whether we will seize the opportunity that beckons."
Bhutanese Prime Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk asked the SAARC countries to live up to their commitment to translate pledges into concrete actions, regional initiatives and projects.
He said transnational issues such as terrorism, drug trafficking and HIV/AIDS must be addressed through a well coordinated regional approach.
SAARC Secretary General Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji said it was now time for member-countries to pursue meaningful, sub-regional and regional projects to reach out to the poorer sections.
Seeing a bight future for SAARC, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing listed five areas in which his country was ready to extend cooperation.
He said China was ready to discuss SAARC establishment of a cooperative mechanism for poverty alleviation and explore the possibility of setting up joint machinery for cooperation in disaster relief and mitigation.
China's readiness to intensify cooperation with SAARC nations in infrastructure and energy sectors was expressed by Li.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said his country would cooperate with SAARC to achieve better regional connectivity. He said Tokyo was keen on supporting SAARC priority projects.
The European Union conveyed its willingness to share its expertise in all areas of interest to SAARC as well as in the implementation of South Asia Free Trade Agreement.
"We hope SAARC will be successful in developing regional cooperation and trade liberalisation," European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.
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