Addressing the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced 3-5 year business visas for South Asian
neighbours and a satellite for the region.
Announcing plans to launch the satellite for the SAARC
region in 2016 as India’s gift to the region, Prime Minister said it will
benefit all of the region.
PM Modi also promised a special funding vehicle,
overseen by India to finance infrastructure projects in the region.
"Nowhere in the world are collective efforts
more urgent than in South Asia; and, nowhere else is it so modest," PM
Modi that focused mainly on improving regional connectivity and trade.
SAARC, he said bluntly, was viewed with cynicism and
skepticism. "We must work to change that cynicism into optimism," he
told South Asian heads of state gathered at Kathmandu.
The prime minister also said that the future he
dreamt for India was the future that he wished for the entire Saarc region.
Trade between the SAARC nations -- Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- has
grown from under $140 million in 2008 to $878 million in 2012, according to
SAARC figures.
But it still accounts for less than five percent of
the region's total commerce, PM Modi said, adding that South Asian nations
conduct only 5 percent of their total trade with each other despite a free
trade agreement.
Announcing special business and medical visas, he
called for nations to make procedures simpler, facilities better and paperwork
less burdensome.
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