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.