DHAKA, March 15: In the run-up to the 14th Saarc Summit scheduled for April 3–4 in New Delhi, the Saarc car rally 2007 was flagged off from the bay resort of Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh on Thursday afternoon, putting out a call to promote tourism and trade in the South Asian region.

Chief adviser to Bangladesh interim-government Fakhruddin Ahmed flagged off the rally in a ceremony by putting his signature on a colourful flag of the rally.

“The Saarc car rally is taking place at an important juncture of our progress towards deeper regional integration. Saarc should increase its efforts to promote the region as a common tourist hub,” Mr Ahmed said.

“Efforts should be geared up for joint promotion of the Saarc region as a common tourist destination by pooling our resources together.”The cross-border rally, first-ever in the South Asian forum’s history, will travel through seven member states of Saarc to end in the Maldives on April 14.

The rally will travel through Bangladesh during March 15–18, India March 18–19, Bhutan March 19–21, India March 21–23, Nepal March 23–26, India March 26–28, Pakistan March 28–31, India March 31–April 7, Sri Lanka April 10–13 and the Maldives during April 13–14.