By IANS
New Delhi : India will push for a massive South Asian transport corridor to enhance trade, travel and popular contacts in the region and ask Pakistan and Bangladesh to grant transit facilities at the first meeting of the SAARC transport ministers here Friday.
Experts from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries met Wednesday to discuss multi-modal transport networks that will figure prominently in the ministerial meeting.
Transport secretaries from the SAARC countries will meet Thursday to finalise the agenda for the ministerial meet that will discuss in detail the Regional Multi-modal Transport Study that has identified 16 roads, rail tracks, aviation routes, shipping and inland corridors in the region to ensure more intra-regional trade and connectivity.
The delegation from each country will also comprise officials from ministries of foreign affairs, civil aviation, communications and shipping.
India, the current chair of the SAARC and a strong proponent of greater connectivity in the region, has prepared a draft of the SAARC Regional Motor Vehicle Agreement that is expected to be discussed by the ministers.
The agreement, among other things, contains a proposal that citizens of any member country would be able to drive through the SAARC countries in their personal cars for personal purposes such as attending a friend’s wedding. The visitors would receive three-day visas and they would encounter minimum hassles at border check posts.
India will also make renewed diplomatic efforts to push for a road link to Myanmar through Bangladesh and another to Afghanistan via Pakistan.
Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have not been receptive to the proposal.
In his speech at the 14th SAARC summit here in April, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made an impassioned plea to promote greater physical, economic and mental connectivity to achieve greater regional integration that is expected to bring nearly 1.5 billion people closer in the common pursuit of peace and prosperity.
Integration of transport network in the region, which will have additional advantages for Nepal, Bhutan and northeast India, is also high on the agenda.