India-SAARC-Legal Assistance Treaty
While pointing out the recent suicide bomb blast targeting the Indian embassy in Kabul showed "how vulnerable South Asia continues to be to terrorism, India Thursday pressed for early finalization of the regional Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty to deal with the menace.

India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee while speaking at a seminar, organised by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), on South Asian Economic Integration in New Delhi said: "SAARC Governments have a collective responsibility to ensure that growth and development within the region takes place in a crime- free atmosphere where people feel secure."
"The recent bomb blasts in Kabul that targeted our embassy emphasizes how vulnerable South Asia continues to be on terrorism," he said.

Mukherjee said India had initiated discussions on a draft convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Expressing confidence that discussions on such a treaty would be finalised at the forthcoming SAARC summit, he said, "This will enable us to implement actions against such crimes in the neighbourhood with regional cooperation."
The External Affairs Minister also emphasised on the need for a liberalized visa regime within SAARC countries. He said that India was in talks with interlocutors in Pakistan on increasing the categories for visa applicants.

"We have given them various suggestions for identifying 300 traders and businessmen but we want to increase the categories to include students and ordinary citizens specially those who are above 60 and pilgrims," he said.