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South Asia Forum being floated

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 13. An all-party South Asia Forum, which will initially comprise current and former parliamentarians, is scheduled to be inaugurated on September 5, Eduardo Faleiro, Congress MP, said today.

Mr. Faleiro, who is behind the initiative, told this correspondent that the objective of the Forum was to strengthen cooperation among South Asian nations.``The Forum will be formally inaugurated by the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and addressed by the envoys of all South Asian nations based in Delhi.''

Mr. Faleiro said Balbir Punj (BJP), Praful Goradia (former BJP MP), Sarla Maheshwari (CPI-M), Abani Roy (RSP), Ramdeo Bhandari (RJD) as well as A.R. Kidwai and K.M. Khan had agreed to associate themselves with the Forum.

``We are expecting messages from the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi,'' he said.

Mr. Faleiro said there was a need to focus energies on deepening the understanding amongst the South Asian nations. The Forum would be eventually extended to other individuals as well.

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