Indian PM embarks for Maldives to attend SAARC Summit

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday embarked on a four-day visit to Maldives where he would attend the SAARC Summit and have a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.The two-day Summit begins November 8 in Addu Islands. At the end of the summit Orime Minister Singh would leave for Male, capital of Maldives, for bilateral discussions with President Mohamed Nasheed on Saturday. In his departure statement the prime minister said that India expected to move forward on the process of liberalisation of trade under the SAFTA and would work to promote greater integration and development of a South Asian identity at the forthcoming SAARC Summit beginning in the Maldives on Thursday. He also said that the SAARC countries are expected to sign agreements on Implementation of Regional Standards (IRS), multilateral arrangement on Recognition of Conformity Assessment, rapid response to natural disasters and establishment of SAARC Seed Bank. Prime Minister Singh said SAARC has established itself as the leading mechanism for regional cooperation in South Asia. It has enabled enhanced cooperation within the region in a wide range of areas such as trade, connectivity, poverty alleviation, food security, women and child development, combating organised crime and terrorism, among others. It has also created new institutions to promote regional integration such as the South Asian Regional Standards Organisation, South Asian Development Fund and South Asian University which is based in New Delhi. Noting that the theme of the Summit is 'Building Bridges', he said India welcomed this focus, it has always emphasized the importance of enhance connectivity for the socio-economic development of the South Asian region. The Prime Minister said on the margins of the Summit he look forward to the opportunity of holding bilateral discussions with other South Asian heads of State and government who would be participating in the Summit. He said, his bilateral visit to Male after the SAARC Summit would be the first visit of an Indian prime minister in nine years as during that period the relations have been significantly transformed. 'I look forward to holding indepth discussions with President Nasheed on all aspects of our relations and to the honour of addressing the People's Majlis (Parliament) in Male. We also expect to conclude concrete agreements to enhance our cooperation in both traditional as well as new areas,' he said. Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna also left on a three-day visit to Maldives today for the SAARC summit during which he is likely to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other member countries including Pakistan's Hina Rabbani Khar. Krishna, who is to fly to Maldives' Addu city, would attend the SAARC Foreign Minister's meeting today. The meeting is likely to focus be on connectivity between the member states– India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Maldives – and a host of regional issues including trade.Besides taking part in the regional meet, Krishna is also likely to hold bilateral talks with his counterparts. The theme of 17th SAARC Summit, being hosted for the third time by the Maldives, is 'Building Bridges'. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organisation of South Asian nations, founded in December 1985 with seven members. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2005. Its eight members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.