Sunday, November 13 2005 19:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dhaka: India has proposed to SAARC an open skies arrangement, which will help substantially increase air connectivity among countries in the region, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today (Nov 13, 2005).

Addressing a press conference after attending the two-day SAARC Summit here, he hoped this proposal would be discussed and agreed in the months to come.

He said India's proposal of a SAARC Car Rally ahead of the next Summit would surely catalyze a concerted effort to improve road connectivity in SAARC.

India, he said has also put forth a proposal for a South Asian Energy Dialogue and the case for SAARC multi-modal connectivity which it felt was "compelling and attractive".

"We hope that by the next SAARC Summit which we will host (in January, 2007), there will be measurable progress on these and other proposals," he said.

Noting that discussions related to SAFTA continue to be under discussion, he said there will be further negotiations at the level of experts in late November. "The intention is for SAFTA to come into effect on the target date of January one, 2006," he stressed.