ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: Pakistan has urged members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) to consider improving air and sea links to promote people-to-people contact and to boost trade.

The three-day meeting of Saarc’s inter-governmental group on transportation, which started here on Tuesday, would recommend ways and means for effective communication in the region besides removing hurdles in the way of easy movement of humans and goods.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Minister for Communication Mohammad Shamim Siddiqui said that landlocked Saarc countries needed to be provided with easy access to ports through development of transit facilities.

He also urged Saarc member countries to improve air and sea links.

The meeting is being attended by delegates from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The meeting is aimed at devising strategies to develop a viable communication network among the member states.

He said that priority should be assigned to infrastructure development, especially to improve road and rail systems and facilities, including updating the existing legal regime covering transport.

“It is imperative to establish a transport supply chain network and proper security system through development of cross-border terminal facilities along with the installation of scanning equipment for quick clearance of shipments,” he observed.

Pakistan, he said, was in the process of setting up the ‘North-South National Trade Corridor’ and an ‘Energy Corridor’ linking regional countries with Gwadar Deep Sea Port through an improved network of highways.