SAARC Car Rally Begins, Reaches Sri Lanka on April 8

The SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Car Rally being held in conjunction with the 14th SAARC Summit to be held in New Delhi was flagged off from Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh on March 15 morning.

The Rally will carry about 120 participants from SAARC countries across Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives in the next one month. It will cover over 8200 km, across varying terrain with the motto of 'connecting people, strengthening ties' on the way. The first ever SAARC Car Rally promises to be a mega event of 2007 that would showcase the oneness, and diversity, of the region like never before, and attempt to tap the vast potential of intra-SAARC trade, investment and tourism opportunities.

The Rally is being organized by the SAARC Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs, India and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with the assistance of all SAARC countries. It seeks to enhance public-private sector partnership. Tata Motors are the vehicle sponsors for the event. The India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) is also supporting the event, along with Indian public sector oil marketing companies.

The seeds of this unique initiative were sown in November 2005 at the 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka where Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh announced, "India offers to hold a South Asian car Rally. This would be a run up to our next Summit. It would symbolise vividly our regional identity and also draw attention to the urgent need to improve our SAARC transport infrastructure". The idea received overwhelming support from all other Member States, and in true SAARC spirit, all countries have pledged complete logistics and hospitality support for the success of the Rally. The private sector in SAARC region too has come forward very enthusiastically, making it a successful public-private partnership.

Coinciding with the Rally, key business events have also been planned, on sector-specific subjects, in each of the SAARC nations through which the Rally would traverse. A major aspect that the Rally organisers plan to highlight is the immense untapped potential of intra-SAARC trade. In 2004, the total value of merchandise exports reported by the South Asian countries (excluding Bhutan) was US $ 102.9 billion, of which only US $ 6.4 billion was destined for the SAARC member states.

During the Indian-leg the Rally will be flagged-off in New Delhi by SAARC leaders at the commencement of the SARARC Summit on April 3.

The Sri Lankan Leg of the Rally starts on April 8 when all the rally participants and media teams arrive in Colombo from Mumbai. The flag off ceremony of the Sri Lankan Leg will be on April 10. The first of the three day event would see the Rally driving on the southern coastline and reaching Kataragama in the evening. On the second day it will traverse from Tissamaharama to Kandy via the scenic hills of the central highland with a stopover at Nuwara Eliya. The rally will proceed to Dalada Maligawa in Kandy for a religious ceremony and pageant. On the final day the Rally will drive from Kandy to Anuradhapura to visit the Ruwanvalisaya and Sri Maha Bodhiya and then return to Colombo via Kurunegala and Ambepussa.

The SAARC Rally will conclude all the driving in Sri Lanka. The rally teams will then head to the Maldives for a symbolic visit on the 13th April for an official closing ceremony.

To sum up, in Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's words, "If we wish the next twenty years of SAARC to be different, we should take the first decision to reconnect the countries of the subcontinent on the one hand and then reconnect the subcontinent to the larger Asian neighbourhood on the other. We need to recharge and regenerate the arteries of transport and communication that bind us together and in turn link our region to the rest of Asia to reclaim the prosperity that is undoubtedly our due."

March 16, 2007

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Nav Pratibha 2007

The annual performance of the students of the Indian Cultural Centre, Nav Pratibha 2007, will be staged on Wednesday, 21st March, 2007 at the Bishops College auditorium, Perahera Mawatha, Colombo-3. The performance will be under the patronage of H.E. Shri Alok Prasad, High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka. The Honble Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Minister for Cultural Affairs, Government of Sri Lanka, will be the Chief Guest.

The students will be displaying their prowess and their talents in sitar, violin and tabla performed in Hindustani classical style, Carnatic classical singing, Hindustani classical singing, and in Kathak and Bharatnatyam styles. Fine pieces of classical music, some traditional , some creative and new, will be played by the instrumentalists. Similarly, the dance students will demonstrate the beauty of classical pieces, as also show the exuberance of creative choreography.

Thus, the sitar students will play a composition based on raag Kafi, while the violin students will play a folk tune based on the semi-classical style kajri in addition to an exposition of raag Puriya Dhanasri. Aspects of tabla playing will be brought out and different items in the classical repertoire in both Hindustani and carnatic vocal music will be sung. The Kathak dancers will delineate well-known aspects of kathak dancing including abhinaya and deft footwork. The Bharat Natyam students will dance a classical padam, enact a famous piece of poetry by Subramaniam Bharti and display a fusion dance item.

The performance will be held at 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday, 21st March, 2007. Invitations to the event can be obtained from the Indian Cultural Centre, 133, Bauddhaloka Mawatha (Tel: 2500014).

March 19, 2007

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