Text Box: Ex-Prime Minister, Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee   A treaty was signed on 6 January, 2004, establishing a South Asian Free Trade Area among the seven SAARC countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives) in the region. India committed to a South Asian Union as the ultimate objective, with mutual security cooperation, open borders and a single currency in Southern Asia in the long run. "The bonds of ethnicity and culture which hold together the peoples of this region are more enduring than the barriers of political prejudice that have been erected quite recently." "….Friends, India is ready to do everything that is necessary, to walk as many extra miles as may be required, to make this vision a reality."