SAARC CCI impressed with PM Modi's dream for South Asia

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) on Thursday expressed its admiration for the vision Prime Minister Narendra Modi has for the South Asian region, adding that the body was hopeful of the passing of all three agreements that had been brought on to the table during the summit.

"On the one hand, the leadership that Prime Minister Modi has shown, the willingness to move SAARC and when he said that his dream for India was the same for South Asia, from that point of view, there can be a lot of things that will happen," SAARC CCI senior vice president Suraj Vaidya told ANI.

"At the same time, we were hoping that all three agreements would have been signed, which would have made connectivity a strong issue. That is the fundamental flaw of SAARC: all decisions have to be unanimous," he added.

Vaidya also urged the forum to work towards sub-regional growth."We need to look at sub-regional growth also. Our commitment is that we will be a partner to the government's declaration and not an observer to the same," he stated.

Earlier in the day, the 18th SAARC Summit concluded with all participating leaders agreeing to a 36-point Kathmandu Declaration Letter.

The sole agreement signed by the member nations will enable all SAARC countries to trade in electricity.

"The energy pact is a framework pact which will enable all SAARC countries to trade in energy. Prime Minister Modi has made it clear that we should focus on electricity trade as commodity trade," Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the media.

The next SAARC Summit is scheduled to be held in Islamabad in 2016.