New Delhi The New Year is expected to usher in the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hopes it will result eventually in a EU-type economic union.
Dhaka is under a security blanket as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit to the Bangladesh Capital on Saturday for the SAARC summit.
Manmohan Singh hoped that a day would arrive when the region would breathe easy, and products, capital, services and people, would move freely across borders.
"We need to complete the process of SAFTA expeditiously, complement it by a SAARC investment Area and move on to deepen it further by forming a SAARC Customs Union and then gradually to an economic union," said Manmohan Singh.
In the SAARC summit 2003, former Prime Minster Atal Bihari Vajpayee had stressed on the idea of a economic union. He expressed a similar yearning, indicating a degree of bi-partisan support to the idea.
SAFTA is expected to become operational next year. The move would benefit the region immensely. But security is an issue, which cannot be ignored.
Countries would have to work together to tackle terrorism and poverty. Prosperity could well be the pill that cures all.
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