PM's vision of interconnected South Asia takes off

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's vision of an interconnected South Asia took off on the right note with the media launch of the SAARC Car Rally here today.

During the last SAARC Summit in Dhaka in November 2005, the Prime Minister had announced that India would hold the first South Asian Car Rally and emphasized the need for reconnecting the countries of the subcontinent to the larger Asian neighbourhood, offering transit facilities on a reciprocal basis to all the SAARC countries.

Focusing on regional connectivity and the need to improve the regional trade as the objectives of the rally, at least 30 Tata Safaris will be used by 120 participants from member SAARC countries over a 31-day period, covering more than 8000 kilometers.

Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan launched the website for the rally--www.saarcarrally.org today.

The private-partnership endeavour will be flagged off at Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh with a special intermediary flag off in New Delhi on April 3 and will end at Male in Maldives on April 14.

UNI