After having allowed private Indian airlines to fly to SAARC countries, the Union Cabinet is likely to take a decision to permit them to launch operations to other international destinations in a month's time, civil aviation minister Praful Patel sai
Greater physical, economic and people-to-people connectivity among SAARC nations can foster growth and development in the region, he added.
Viewing terrorism as a 'serious threat' to South Asia's peace and development, members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation on Thursday decided to have regular exchange of information to combat the menace and push efforts for establishing a convention for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
Finance Ministers of the eight-nation regional bloc South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in their second meeting here agreed to expedite early operationalisation of the Saarc Development Fund.
India is keen on removing trade barriers with Saarc nations and improving trade.
United India Insurance Company plans to enter the West Asia and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries to tap the potential in these regions due to a presence of a large India diaspora.
India on Tuesday said the inclusion of Afghanistan in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation would go a long way in establishing lasting peace and stability in the region.
Soon after the Union Ministry of Culture decided on refusing US dollar payments for entry tickets to monuments in Agra due to the falling value of dollar against the Indian rupee, the Archaeological Survey of India is planning to lower the entry ticket cost for tourists belonging to the South Asian Association for Regional cooperation (Saarc) countries, bringing it down from Rs 750 to Rs 20.
India finished on top of the five-team table with an aggregate of 286 after 36 holes of strokeplay.
The challenge before us is to translate institutions into activities, conventions into programmes, official statements into popular sentiments. Declarations at summits and official level meetings do not amount to regional cooperation or integration. Regional cooperation should enable freer movement of people, of goods, of services and of ideas. It should help us re-discover our shared heritage and build our common future.
Afghanistan became a SAARC member in 2006.
The first thing that struck Sheela Bhatt, in Thimphu to cover the summit, was that whiff of fresh air -- opulent and serene. Here are her first impressions on the eve of the summit.
India will have the largest contingent of journalists at the XVIth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit that is being held in Thimphu this week.
Koirala is currently busy in hectic consultations with his party colleagues as well as top leaders of the major political parties to form a new Interim government inclusive of the Maoists.
No reservation on China, Japan joining SAARC as observers: PM
The Summit would also underscore the need for putting in place a Regional Response Mechanism regarding disaster preparedness.
There were speculations galore about the Pakistan premier's early departure in the wake of the Indo-Pak bilateral talks, reports Prasanna D Zore from Addu
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit to be held in the Maldives next week.
The leaders also adopted the Islamabad Declaration for the SAARC summit.
His Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali received him at the airport.
The external affairs ministry was authorised on Thursday by the Union Cabinet to negotiate and finalise the text of the Convention for cooperation on criminal matters, so that it can be signed during the SAARC Summit in August, to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
'Narasimha Rao asked me why China was doing so well in attracting foreign investments and I gave my frank opinion.' 'I told him that giving thrust to exports had to be a national effort.' 'But in India, the system was very centralised in the Government of India and the state governments had no role to play.'
Strengthening of police cooperation will be high on agenda of the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Home Ministers' conference during which India is expected to press for visible collaboration by member countries in the fight against terrorism.
It is time the political leaderships in this country arrived at a common ground over issues of foreign and security policy concerns. There has to be a greater communication between the government and the Opposition leaderships for the nation to present a unified face against the rest of the world, advises N Sathiya Moorthy.
On the eve of the 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to be held in Colombo August 2-3, the US has said it does not believe SAARC is ineffectual and irrelevant and a farce as some in the West and in the region itself contend--who dismiss it as nothing but a group photo-op every few years--and is confident it can grow to be as powerful and influential as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Climate change is the official agenda for the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit beginning on Wednesday, but the real focus will be on 'temperature' in Indo-Pak relations, which have always overshadowed such meetings.
The Summit on April 28-29, to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will also unveil rules and regulations for the ambitious SAARC University which is in the process of being set up in Delhi.
Striker Krishna Pandit struck twice to help Indian juniors register a 2-1 victory over Afghanistan in their opening encounter of the U-14 SAARC Tournament at the Tokinosumika Sports Centre in Shizuka, Japan.
The government will prepare a strong case for restoration of 27 percent quota for OBCs in elite educational institutes.
India on Wednesday asked its South Asian neighbours to increase intra-regional trade as a cushion against slowdown in exports to the US and European markets.
He underlined that Lok Sabha election results in India show that the Modi government kept alive and strengthened the 'expectation of change' in the country.
Mukherjee, who is accompanied by Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, was received by Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves New Delhi on Wednesday on a 4-day visit to Maldives to attend the SAARC Summit on the margins of which he will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.
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