Tuesday, August 30 2005 13:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: India yesterday (August 29, 2005) said it was open to the idea of facilitating visa free regime for accredited journalists of SAARC countries and urged other members of the regional group to consider the proposal favourably.

"India is open to the idea of facilitating visa free regime for accredited journalists of SAARC. We also appeal to other SAARC countries to consider the proposal favourably," Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy said at the 5th SAARC Information Ministers Conference here.

Reddy, who is leading the Indian delegation to the meet, called on King Gyanendra alongwith other SAARC Information Ministers, in the first high-level contact between the two countries following the February 1 Royal takeover.

All member countries need to enhance confidence building measures to strengthen SAARC as a regional group, Reddy said at the conference while stressing on the need to put the past behind and move forward "to strengthen our friendship and cultural bonds for general good and economic development of the people in the SAARC region".

"Western countries have the historical privilege of leading democracy following the economic development but in developing countries, we have to manage to get the economic development and political democracy march hand in hand," he said.

Reddy said projection of religious and linguistic diversities within each member country should be strengthened as part of the democratic process.

Welcoming the idea of SAARC film festival, he said it would strengthen common cultural bonds. "By having unity amongst us, we are going to loose nothing but poverty," he said.