Saarc meet opens with duty sops from India

Zero duty access to least developed countries of South Asia by year-end.

India today announced that it would allow zero duty access to least developed countries of South Asia by the year-end and also reduce the sensitive list in respect of these nations, while unilaterally liberalising visas for certain categories.

In his inaugural address at the Saarc summit here, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared that India was prepared to take an "asymmetrical responsibility" to facilitate free trade in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries.

Stressing that economic, physical and political connectivity was the theme of the 14th summit, the PM proposed the immediate linking of all Saarc capitals through direct flights as a first step in this connectivity. After several years of effort, "the time has come to move Saarc from a declaratory phase to action and implementation," he declared at the summit where Afghanistan joined as the eighth member of the regional grouping.

"As an immediate step, India is announcing unilateral liberalisation of visas for students, teachers, professors, journalists and patients from Saarc (countries). Let us aim to double the intra-Saarc flow of tourists in the next five years," he said.

Singh said the ongoing process of building an open and integrated market from the Himalayas to the Pacific, covering a vast and dynamic economic region, and Safta could have a major role to play in this emerging architecture.

Asserting that South Asia was in the midst of an unprecedented political and economic transformation, the PM said, "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."

In an obvious reference to India's troubled relationship with Pakistan, he said, "I see signs of hope that our governments are now addressing the bilateral political issues that have prevented us from achieving our potential. We must break with the past and join hands to realise our shared destiny."

"Our agreement to establish a South Asia University, as a world-class institution of learning, will be an important symbol of the connectivity of ideas and of our youth, who will build the knowledge economy of the future," he said.

"All of South Asia is now or will soon be short of energy. A South Asian energy community could start by harmonising systems and methods and grid structures, and ultimately move on to an energy exchange that covers the whole region," he said.

The PM said the current summit would be taking the first step towards improving food security by setting up a Regional Food Bank, which would meet shortages and losses caused by natural calamities.