Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday said the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will miss the boat if it failed to organise itself quickly according to the new global realities.
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He warned that 'other alignments' will develop to seize the economic opportunities offered by closer integration.
Observing that the post-Cold War alignments and the technology revolution have set in motion trends which could not be ignored, he said: "It is time that we recognise what it means for all of us in South Asia."
Inaugurating the third SAARC Information Ministers' Conference in New Delhi, Vajpayee, who delayed his departure for Moscow for the ceremony, said: "We cannot forever be challenging logic and mocking economics."
Representatives from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan are attending the conference.
The prime minister said experiences in regional and sub-regional cooperation like ASEAN and BIMSTEC "hold a lesson" for SAARC.
Dismissing the argument that India's 'unequal' physical size and economic strength inhibited equal cooperation, the prime minister, without naming Pakistan, said these very factors could be turned to mutual economic advantage by creating interlinkages which could enhance confidence and trust.
Stressing that there was an overwhelming desire for friendship and cooperation at the level of the people in this region, he said: "We, as politicians, should respond to this demand."