The 14th summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) opened here Tuesday amid tight security with anti-terrorism, poverty alleviation and promotion of intra-regional trade high on agenda.

At the opening session of the meeting, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a joint declaration with the Heads of State or Government of SAARC member countries, formalizing Afghanistan's membership of the regional grouping. Besides Afghanistan, SAARC also groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took chairmanship of SAARC from Bangladesh, which hosted the last summit meeting in Dhaka in November 2005.

In his address, Singh said 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 country in the region has to work out.

"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 make a break with the past and join hands to realize our common shared destiny," said Singh.

Highlighting the theme of the Summit meeting, Singh said connectivity - physical, economic and of the mind, has historically been the key to the region's peace and prosperity and South Asia has flourished most when connected to itself and the rest of the world.

Singh proposed that efforts be made to link all capitals of SAARC member countries through direct flights.

As an immediate step to freer and easier travel within the region, India is announcing a unilateral liberalization of visas for students, teachers, professors, journalists and patients from SAARC countries, said the Indian prime minister. He called for more efforts to double the intra-SAARC flow of tourists in the next five years.

In an effort to contribute to the ongoing process of building an open and integrated market from the Himalayas to the Pacific, Singh said his country will allow duty free access to India before the end of this year to its South Asian neighbors who are Least Developed Countries and further reduce the sensitive list in respect of these countries.

He called for focused attention on issues like energy security, food security and climate change.

A South Asian energy community could start by harmonizing systems and methods and grid structures and ultimately move on to an energy exchange with energy markets that cover the whole South Asian region. Promoting appropriate local technologies for harnessing renewable energy is an area to be considered for future cooperation, said Singh.

He also urged implementation in a meaningful and sincere manner the commitments and pledges to root out terrorism.

SAARC's five Observers -- China, Japan, Republic of Korea, the United States of America and the European Union also sent their representatives to the meeting.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing addressed the opening session as China was invited to attend the summit meeting as an observer for the first time.

India hosted the 2nd SAARC Summit in Bangalore in 1986 and the 8th SAARC Summit in New Delhi in 1995.

Source: Xinhua