Pranab Mukherjee: India ready to take more responsibility

OPINION

The time has come for a new vision, a new commitment and a new sense of purpose in South Asia.

We are aware that as the present Chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), India has an important responsibility. Let me share with you some of the steps we intend to take in taking Saarc forward.

As the largest country in the region, India is ready to accept symmetrical responsibilities, including opening her markets to her South Asian neighbours without insisting on reciprocity. During the summit, the prime minister announced duty-free access to India's markets to the least developed countries in Saarc from this year itself.

India is committed to reducing the sensitive lists for the least developed countries. The prime minister has also announced unilateral liberalisation of visas, particularly for students, teachers, professionals, journalists and patients from the region and called for doubling intra-Saarc flow of tourists in the next five years.

It is our effort to carry forward the theme of connectivity for implementing projects and improving regional cooperation and integration. We will try to focus on improving regional connectivity through upgrading trade, transport and telecommunication links; address issues relating to trade facilitation and increase understanding through greater people to people contact.

We have started work on the establishment of a South Asian University. We propose to set up a project office for the university in New Delhi and appoint an interim CEO, to be assisted by a team of academics/experts from the region. It is our earnest hope that this university will advance a sense of South Asian unity. We intend to promote students and faculty exchange among the Saarc member countries both at the school and college levels. India will also host the first Saarc cultural festival in November this year to bring together artists and cultural performances from the entire region.

The Saarc Museum of Textiles and Handicrafts will be inaugurated with its first exhibition entitled "Textile Traditions of South Asia" at the end of the year. This exhibition will be held in the Crafts Museum at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi for three months. We propose to open a sales outlet of regional textiles and handicrafts on the sidelines of the exhibition. We have joined hands with the Fashion Design Council of India to organise a Saarc fashion festival that will showcase the rich textile traditions of the Saarc countries. This will boost our region's textiles and crafts industries.

The Saarc Food Bank will be developed as an exemplary model of regional cooperation to collectively meet our region's food shortages during emergencies and natural calamities. The first meeting of the governing board of the Saarc Food Bank will be to consider the terms and conditions of exchanging and assisting each other during such times.

The importance of addressing issues relating to the empowerment of women has been recognised by Saarc. India will host three meetings to address the issues of home-based workers, micro-financing and trafficking in women and children. Today, we live in an increasingly interdependent world. Our collective endeavours can be more than the sum of our individual efforts. Saarc offers us the hope and the opportunity to fulfill this imperative of our times. The time has come for a new vision, a new commitment and a new sense of purpose in South Asia. It is now the collective responsibility of all the member countries to carry it forward towards purposeful cooperation. In achieving the objectives of Saarc, I would like to reaffirm India's firm political commitment to regional cooperation for mutual benefit.

(Excerpts from Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's address at the meeting of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) in Shimla on June 3, 2007)