Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday promised to take forward the visa regime of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries which is presently restrictive in character.
The minister’s assurance fitted perfectly with the theme of the 8th South Asian Free Media Conference 2013 – A South Asian Vision and Union: opening minds, opening borders. In a gesture that was loaded with political and emotional content, the conference was inaugurated on Saturday in the presence of Indian Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal in Amritsar and will conclude on January 9 at Lahore. “I will take it up as a personal effort to convince my colleagues….,” the minister said while talking about the need to expand the visa regime. He said that he looked forward to the day when people could
have breakfast in one country, lunch in another and dinner in the third, a point endorsed by the chief minister. Badal, in fact, urged the external affairs minister “not to delay much in removing the walls” so that people from one country of the region could go across to another without any difficulty. He also promised to take up the matter of unrestricted visa regime with the government of India. The chief minister emphasized that holding the inaugural session at Amritsar is in consonance with the aims and objectives of SAFMA of promoting secularism and socialism. In this context, he recalled that the foundation stone of Harmandir Sahib was laid by a Muslim saint Mian Mir and the four open doorways to the shrine depict peace and the freedom of the human spirit. Both the leaders spoke virtually in the same voice. Khurshid laced his speech with humour and heaped praise on the chief minister whose name combined the strength of providing both light (Prakash) and rain clouds (Badal) – a compliment that made the Akali leader smile broadly.
Addressing the gathering earlier, SAFMA Secretary General Imtiaz Alam said the agenda of South Asian regional cooperation had to go beyond “policy” barriers and address “non policy” barriers. “Nothing will be achieved if we do not open our minds to each other and allow connectivity and routes to flourish unhindered,” he added. Vinod Sharma, president, SAFMA-India delivered the welcome address and the vote of thanks was given by the SAFMA Bangladesh General Secretary of Zahiduzzaman Faruque.
