Relaxing visa norms, coop in counter-terrorism on Saarc agenda

Ajay Kaul Thimphu, Feb 5 (PTI) Eight South Asian countries will
discuss over the next four days ways to relax visa norms and
take forward various other initiatives including cooperation
in fight against terrorism.
The SAARC Foreign Secretaries will meet here for two
days from Sunday, taking stock of the various initiatives
aimed at cooperation in security, forging greater connectivity
and economic integration.
They will finalise a report that will be considered by
the meeting of Council of Ministers to be held on February 8
and 9.
Ahead of these meetings, Joint Secretaries in-charge
of SAARC met here Saturday to finetune the agenda.
The Saarc Visa Exemption Scheme is expected to be one
of the major issues on the agenda of the meeting which would
be attended by Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna
and his counterparts from other seven member nations, sources
said.
There has been a proposal for expanding the list of
people from various fields of life to be exempted from visa
requirement for travel within eight Saarc member countries.
At present Members of Parliament, judges, 100
identified business leaders, sportspersons and 150 journalists
are availing Saarc Visa facility.
Seeking a modification in the scheme, India wants that
the prior approval should be accorded to the three categories
— business persons, sportspersons and journalists.
Once the prior approval is taken, they may be given
special stickers with long-term multi-entry provision, sources
said, adding the idea was to improve the system so that it can
be implemented effectively without any fear of misuse.
The Saarc council of ministers' meeting is also
expected to discuss the progress made in the implementation of
regional Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).
The MLAT was agreed upon at the Saarc summit in
Colombo in 2008. Since then, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri
Lanka and Maldives have ratified it but Pakistan, Afghanistan
and Nepal are yet to do so, the sources said.
The Saarc countries, at the home minister's conference
in Islamabad in June 2010, had also agreed to step up
cooperation in fight against terror and consider a proposal to
form a Saarc Police force (SAARCPOL) on the pattern of
Interpol.
These proposals are expected to be discussed further
at the upcoming meet.
Aspects related to the Saarc food bank are also
expected to be deliberated upon amid requests from some
countries that the threshold of the items to be drawn from it
needed to be brought down so that the bank could serve its
utility better.
Utilisation of the South Asia Development Fund is also
expected to be discussed. Three projects have already been
identified for implementation under the fund, including a
teachers' training programme in Pakistan.
SAARC Secretary General Sheelkant Sharma said the
progress made in the last two years is “not insignificant “
although he would have liked more to happen on the South Asia
Development Fund implementation.
India has already contributed about 90 million US
dollars besides 100 million US dollars as voluntary
contribution to the fund.