Mr. Tariq Sayeed, President SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SAARC CCI) has urged upon the need for signing of Regional Investment treaty amongst the member nations of SAARC, regarding it a must for economic integration of South Asia.

President SAAR CCI will raise this issue in the forthcoming Conference "Harnessing Business Opportunities for Economic integration of South Asia, jointly organized by SAARC CCI and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in collaboration with Asian Development Bank on November 17-18, 2009 at New Delhi , India.

President SAARC CCI will address the inaugural session of the Conference which will be inaugurated by S.M. Krishna, Minister of external Affairs, Government of India, Dr. Sheel Kant Sharma, Secretary General, SAARC and Mr. Jai Ram Ramesh, State Minister for Environment, Government of India and Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI.

In a press released issued by SAAR CCI, Mr. Sayeed said that promotion of economic cooperation in the region and particularly between India and Pakistan could serve as a powerful tools to defuse political tension. "The Modern philosophy of regional integration is based on magnitude and gravity of the economic cooperation amongst the member countries, which is not only instrumental to foster the process of integration but also plays a decisive role to develop people-to-people contacts, which is instrumental to regional integration.

The inaugural session is followed by technical sessions on very important issues like Expanding the SAARC visa exemption scheme; Rationalizing public holidays; Adopting a regional motor vehicular agreement; Dealing with non-tariff barriers; Improving land customs stations; and Promoting intra-regional investment and will be addressed by prominent academician, entrepreneurs and experts on the subjects.