Rid South Asia of terror for region's progress: SAARC leaders

New Delhi, Apr 3 (UNI) Leaders of SAARC nations today joined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in pledging to take bold steps to wipe out terrorism from South Asia to establish peace and a conducive atmosphere for overall economic development of the region, stating this alone can reduce poverty and disease among their 1.5 billion people.

In his inaugural address at the 14th summit after taking over the chairmanship of the regional grouping from Bangladesh, Dr Singh announced a series of unilateral steps to promote regional trade.

India would open up its markets by allowing zero-duty access before the end of this year to the least developed countries of SAARC -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives, he said.

The Prime Minister also mooted proposals for connecting the capitals of the eight SAARC nations through direct flights and establishment of a South Asian energy community to overcome the existing and projected power shortage.

The two-day summit began with all the Presidents and Prime Ministers signing a joint declaration, formalising the entry of Afghanistan as SAARC's eighth member. Earlier in the morning, the eight leaders had flagged off the SAARC car rally, which had begun in Bangladesh on March 15, on its way to Sri Lanka.

In his brief address, Dr Singh said a ''primary requirement for the fulfillment of our vision of prosperity and cooperation in South Asia is peace.

''We should therefore implement in a meaningful and sincere manner the commitments and pledges to root out terrorism so as to create the atmosphere in which our endeavours can succeed.'' Besides Dr Singh, the summit is being attended by Prime Ministers Girija Prasad Koirala of Nepal, Khandu Wangchuk of Bhutan and Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan, Presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives and Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka, besides Bangladesh Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed.

The SAARC said the attendance of the summit by five observers from outside the region -- the US, the EU, China, Japan and South Korea -- signified the growing importance of the regional grouping.

The Observers were represented by Foreign Ministers Li Zhaoxing of China, Taro Aso of Japan and Song Min Soon of South Korea, German Ambassador here Bernd Mutzelburg (EU) and Mr Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

The EU offered to share its expertise with SAARC in the implementation of the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.

The SAARC leaders acknowledged that enough had not been done to realise the full potential of their cooperation and the need for translating their words into action.

Announcing that India would... picking up from para three, line one of DI29 EXTERNAL-THIRD LEAD SAARC SUMMIT TWO NEW DELHI.

UNI