— Photo: R.V. Moorthy

THE SUMMITEERS: Leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation at the 14th SAARC summit in New Delhi on Tuesday. From left, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Chief Adviser to the Bangladesh interim Government Fakhruddin Ahmed, Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

NEW DELHI: Setting the tone for the 14th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India would allow "zero-duty access" for goods from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan before the end of the year and "further reduce" the sensitive lists in respect of these countries.

"India is ready to accept asymmetrical responsibilities, opening its markets to its South Asian neighbours without insisting on reciprocity," Dr. Singh stated at the Vigyan Bhavan here on Tuesday as Afghanistan formally joined SAARC as the regional grouping's eighth member.

Regional connectivity

In an effort to advance the "dream" of full regional connectivity, the Prime Minister announced unilateral liberalisation of visas for students, teachers, professors, journalists and patients from SAARC nations. He also proposed linking all SAARC capitals with direct flights.

All the seven other heads of state/government, who spoke at the opening session, agreed on the need to take the grouping towards greater economic integration. Observers from China, Japan, the United States, South Korea and the European Union were present for the first time at the SAARC summit.

"Compelling vision"

Referring to the agreement on setting up a South Asian University and a regional food bank, Dr. Singh said he had a "compelling vision" of a rapidly developing South Asia playing its role in an interdependent world's economic development and peaceful evolution.

Dr. Singh expressed happiness at the presence of the five observers. He said:

"In the coming years, SAARC will learn to work with our partners from outside the region, evolving ways of involving them in our progress.

"South Asia is in the midst of an unprecedented political and economic transformation. The political transitions, painful as they may be, are something that each one 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. We must now ... join hands to realise our shared destiny," he added.

Dhaka's suggestion

Dr. Singh's announcement on duty-free access for the least developed countries in SAARC came as Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed said in his speech that the "larger and better resourced among us" had a greater responsibility to extend support to those lower down the scale of development.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said SAARC badly needed to be action-oriented rather than remain dependent on rhetoric. "Merely saying good things about each other and ignoring the reality will take us nowhere," the President felt. He added that it was high time SAARC adopted a single currency.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said all SAARC members had to play their role in tackling the problem of terrorism.

The proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline also needed to be speeded up, he said.

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