The Hindu : Proposal to ease visa regime for SAARC journalists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 12, 2003

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Proposal to ease visa regime for SAARC journalists

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI NOV. 11. Information Ministers of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries today unanimously decided to request their respective governments to liberalise the visa regime for the free movement of mediapersons within the region to facilitate information flow. This was announced here today by the Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, at the end of the ministerial-level deliberations of the third conference of SAARC Information Ministers.

Briefing mediapersons, Mr. Prasad was, however, non-committal about whether the issue of liberalising the visa regime would be on the agenda of the SAARC summit due in Islamabad next year. He said a "beginning has been made''.

With ticklish bilateral issues studiously avoided, the talks - according to the Minister - were held in a "very warm spirit'', and a "great degree of mutuality pervaded the discussions''.

All decisions were taken unanimously and even on subjects where the jurisdiction extended beyond the mandate of the five Ministers who attended the meeting - those of the Maldives and Sri Lanka being the absentees - the participants agreed to communicate the issue at hand to the authorities concerned as was the case with India's suggestion for a regular SAARC film festival. Apparently, since films fall within the purview of the Culture Ministry in the other countries, the proposal could only be "taken on board''.

On the issue of evolving a SAARC-recognised media forum, it was decided that since the media was predominantly in private hands, journalists and managements should be consulted for giving it shape.

The inputs will be gathered over the next six months and the structured response would be put up for a discussion at the second conference of Editors & Working Journalists which will be held in India next year in place of Bhutan.

As for the model guidelines prepared by India for transnational satellite broadcasting in the region, it was agreed that all countries would respond within the next 45 days. As of now, only Bhutan has sent in its views, and Bangladesh and Pakistan maintained that they needed to study them in greater detail.

The only issue on which there was some difference of opinion was on the venue of the SAARC Information Centre.

With no SAARC institution on its soil, Bhutan was apparently keen on housing it but since Nepal had been decided upon at an earlier ministerial meeting, the former stepped down.

Besides, Bangladesh was asked to revise its paper on the creation of a SAARC Media Development Fund.

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