Seize chances or SAARC will miss the boat: PM

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today set the pace for the SAARC Information Ministers Meet with a word of caution: Ignore the call of t...

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today set the pace for the SAARC Information Ministers Meet with a word of caution: Ignore the call of the liberal exchange regime at your own peril.

‘‘If SAARC cannot organise itself, it will simply miss the boat. Other alignments will develop to seize the economic opportunities offered by closer integration. We cannot forever be challenging logic and mocking economics,’’ Vajpayee said.

	Open sesame

			A guard at the tea lounge of Parliament Annexe got a first-hand taste of the SAARC agenda of ‘‘free flow of information’’ when Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed chided him for shutting the door on him. The hapless guard was doing his bit to prevent journalists from intruding on the guests even as the Sheikh wanted to walk out. ‘‘Arre mian kiwar kyon band kar diya. Humein bahar jaana hai. Aap ka problem yahi hai. Aap kiwar band karna chahte hain aur hum kholna chahte hain (Why are you closing the door? I want to step out. This is your problem. You want to close doors while we want to open them),’’ the Sheikh said. (ENS)

Inaugurating the two-day meet of Information Ministers from SAARC countries, Vajpayee said SAARC could learn a lesson from the recently concluded India-ASEAN summit meeting in Bali, indicative of the triumph of economic organisation over political differences. ‘‘We concluded a framework agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation — including free trade barely a year after commencement of negotiations. We advanced towards an open-skies policy for passenger traffic and for cargo services,’’ the Prime Minister reminded his guests.

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Indicating his willingness to give a liberal thrust to SAARC, Vajpayee said: ‘‘We have repeatedly expressed our willingness to enter into preferential trading arrangement and free trade agreements within the SAARC framework. With Nepal and Bhutan, we have had such special trading arrangements for decades. With Sri Lanka, we have gone a considerable distance down the road. We are making a beginning with Bangladesh too,’’ he said.

Coming closer to the agenda set by SAARC, Vajpayee said media can no longer be the monopoly of governments. The revolution in communications presents great opportunities to SAARC countries which should use technologies rather than suppress them. ‘‘We should properly publicise and project SAARC activities within and outside the region,’’ the Prime Minister said. Vajpayee hoped the SAARC countries would consider India’s suggested guidelines on trans-national satellite broadcasting that will genuinely strengthen regional cooperation in information and media.

To show India’s commitment, Vajpayee said the country was willing to offer under technical and economic assistance programme 12 seats to SAARC countries in training institutions for various media disciplines. Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed walked up to Vajpayee to greet him first as visiting ministers lined up for a group photograph after the inauguration. They were introduced to Vajpayee by I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Later Sheikh said he had delivered a ‘‘short, sweet and smart message’’ from the Pakistani leadership — good wishes from President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali.

Asked why Indian TV channels are banned in Pakistan, Sheikh said: ‘‘These are all peanuts (small issues). We have to resolve the basic issue.’’