SAARC meet to work for formation of South Asian Union

Shimla, June 1 (UNI) The two-day SAARC Parliamentarians' meet beginning here tomorrow will chalk out a roadmap for further cooperation between the SAARC countries and come out with Shimla Declaration for the formation of South Asian Union (SAU) on the lines of European Union.

Talking to mediapersons here, South Asian Free Media Association's (SAFMA) general secretary Imtiaz Alam said there was infinite scope for collaboration in culture, sports, human resource development, poverty alleviation, environment and tourism.

He said the South Asian fraternity must defy all restrictions imposed in the past and usher in a new era.

The people of the SAARC countries must become masters of their destiny and contribute to the progress of humanity regardless of geography, ethnicity, nationhood, gender, creed and colour, he said.

Mr Alam said efforts to organize the second meet by SAFMA had been successful, as against only four SAARC countries that attended the first meet held at Islamabad in 2003, 84 MPs (Member of Parliament) of all major political parties of eight countries are participating in the meet.

The SAARC countries share common history and similarity in culture, and the South Asian region was booming with ideas of regional cooperation and significant sections of intelligentsia, economists, experts, media and peace activists have begun to take a holistic approach towards collective good of 1.4 billion people, he said.

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