Kathmandu, February 15:

The SAARC Car Rally 2007 was officially launched in all the eight SAARC members nations today.

The rally is aimed at strengthening the bond between the people, promote goodwill among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations and enhance economic cooperation, said Bodh Raj Niraula, Member secretary of the Rally Organising Committee and joint secretary at the Ministry of Education and Sports during the media launch of the rally.

The rally will begin from Cox’s Bazar Stadium of Bangladesh on March 15 and end in Maldives on April 14 covering a total of 8,200 kilometres over the 30 days. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh proposed the rally during the 13th SAARC Summit and foreign ministers of the member nations endorsed the proposal of organising the SAARC Car Rally.

“The routes have been selected to highlight the places of major tourist attractions of member countries and possibilities of trade by road,” said Niraula in a release. The cars, which will be provided by Tata Motors, would leave Bangladesh on March 18 for Bhutan and then come to Nepal via India.

The Nepal leg of the rally starts from Kakarvitta on March 23 and take a night break at Pokhara. There will be a welcome reception for the cars at Nagdhunga before entering Kathmandu the next day. After a night stay in Kathmandu, the rally will leave for Lumbini through Narayanghat on March 25 and the rally will finish its Nepal visit

on March 26 with a flagoff ceremony at Mahendra Nagar.