The Union Minister of External Affairs, Shri Pranab Mukherjee today said that to reclaim its heritage and realise the full potential of South Asia, it is essential that existing barriers that restrict the movement of people, goods and investments within and across the region be dismantled. It is with this perspective that India has extended its hand of friendship and cooperation to all her neighbours and proactively addresses whatever differences there may be, he said while addressing the concluding session of the conference of parliamentarians from the SAARC region organized by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) on 'South Asian Parliament: Evolving South Asian Fraternity', in Shimla today.

The following is the text of the address of Shri Pranab Mukherjee, delivered on the occasion:

"It gives me immense pleasure to address the concluding session of the conference of parliamentarians from the SAARC region organized by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) on "South Asian Parliament: Evolving South Asian Fraternity".

The choice of Shimla as the venue and the commemoration of 150 years of the 1st War of Independence at this conference, are strong reminders of South Asia's shared history, its common destiny and a future, which is interlinked.

At the moment of the birth of SAARC, Rajiv Gandhi drew attention to the relevance of our South Asian identity in these eloquent words: "The South Asian region has been one of the great crucibles of human creativity. Here, an indigenous civilization, whose origins stretch back into an unfathomed antiquity, interacted with peoples and races who poured in from distant parts of the world. Out of the intermingling of their ideas, philosophies and ways of life grew the noble heritage to which each of our seven nations can lay claim."

India is convinced that on the foundations of its civilisational and commercial interlinkages, South Asian countries can work together to emerge as a major powerhouse of economic creativity and enterprise.

After all, South Asia is home to 1.5 billion people representing 1/5th of world's humanity. Its rich cultural, natural and human resources make it one of the richest regions in the world. Today the countries of South Asia are on the threshold of a historical moment. Collectively, we stand a good chance of transforming the economic conditions of our people and in the development of human civilization in the 21st century. For the first time, in the last 350 years, the global economy is indicating a shift in its centre of gravity from the continents of Europe and North America to Asia. Asia's real income per capita has risen 7-fold between 1950 and 2005 and its share in world trade has more than doubled during 1970 and 2005. If countries of South Asia make a joint effort and use the complementarities of the region as a whole, they can use of this opportunity available to them at this juncture.

To reclaim its heritage and realise the full potential of South Asia, it is essential that existing barriers that restrict the movement of people, goods and investments within and across the region be dismantled. It is with this perspective that India has extended its hand of friendship and cooperation to all her neighbours and proactively addresses whatever differences there may be. It is again with this perspective that India participated in the 14th SAARC Summit.

The 14th SAARC Summit was a landmark Summit in many respects. The positive atmosphere, the spirit of cooperation and the forward looking Declaration adopted at the end of the Summit are a demonstration of the new, emerging South Asian fraternity. In terms of atmosphere, this was the smoothest, least contentious Summit ever. The constructive deliberations at various meetings of the Heads of State/Government, of the Council of Ministers and of Senior Officials and the high level presence of Observers from outside the region, including the expression of interest of others, are all testimony to the fact that this was recognized not just within the region, but also outside of it.

For the first time in its history, SAARC expanded its membership to welcome Afghanistan as its eighth member. Given Afghanistan's civilisational, historical and cultural ties with South Asia, its admission into SAARC was a natural development. We consider Afghanistan a valued member of the SAARC fraternity and the region's gateway to Central Asia and beyond.

The Summit underlined the collective vision of the leaders of SAARC countries of an interconnected South Asia where there was a free flow of people, goods, services and ideas. Under the overarching theme of connectivity, the Summit took some important decisions. An important decision in this respect was to extend the SAARC Regional Multimodal Transport Study to Afghanistan. It was recognized that South Asia should first be integrated within itself and then integrate further to the rest of the world. The SAARC countries also committed themselves to combat terrorism. The important decisions taken at the Summit will bring concrete and tangible benefits to the people of our region.

We are aware that as the present Chair of SAARC, India has an important responsibility. Let me share with you some of the steps that we intend to take in moving SAARC forward.

As the largest country in the region, India is ready to accept asymmetrical responsibilities, including opening up her markets to her South Asian neighbours without insisting on reciprocity. During the Summit, Prime Minister announced duty free access to India's markets to the LDCs in SAARC from this year itself. India is committed to reducing the Sensitive Lists for the LDCs. Prime Minister has also announced unilateral liberalization 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 5 years.

It is our effort that, during our Chairmanship of SAARC, we carry forward the theme of connectivity to implement concrete projects and upgrade regional cooperation and integration. We would try to focus on improving regional connectivity through upgrading trade, transport and telecommunication links; address issues relating to trade facilitation such as harmonization of customs procedures and standards; increase understanding through greater people to people contact, particularly among the youth, the civil society, cultural personalities, academics and parliamentarians.

We have started work on the establishment of the South Asian University. We propose to set up a Project Office for the University in New Delhi and appoint an interim CEO 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 community by bringing together future generations of students in the common pursuit of quality education and to prepare them for the challenges of the new millennium.

We realize that greater interaction particularly among the youth and the student community will contribute significantly in enhancing understanding. We intend to promote students and faculty exchange among the SAARC member countries both at school and college level.

India would also host the First SAARC Cultural Festival in November this year to bring together artists and cultural performances from the entire region to showcase the richness, the diversity and similarity of our culture. We are planning a series of events including cultural performances, seminars, workshops, exhibitions, film and food festivals.

The SAARC Museum of Textiles and Handicrafts would 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 organize a SAARC Fashion Festival that will showcase the rich textile traditions of the SAARC countries and how are they being used in contemporary fashion. This will give a boost to our regions textiles and crafts industries.

The SAARC Food Bank would be developed as an exemplary model of regional cooperation to collectively meet our region's food shortages in times of emergencies and natural calamities. The First Meeting of the Governing Board of the SAARC Food Bank will meet to consider the terms and conditions of exchanging and assisting each other in times of natural calamities and food shortages.

The importance of addressing issues relating to the empowerment of women has been recognized in SAARC. India will host three important meetings to address the issues of home-based workers, micro-financing and the problems relating to trafficking in women and children.

We look at the SAARC process as a stimulus to strengthen cross-border economic linkages, through initiatives such as SAFTA and the SAARC Development Fund (SDF). In our view, these can create opportunities for exploiting synergies based on comparative advantages, increased intra-regional trade, investment in cross border infrastructure projects and coordinated programs to address challenges in governance, environment, social development and other fields that spill over national boundaries.

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.

Thank you.

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