"I am the only leader present here, who has attended all the 14 summits," Gayoom said amid applause from Saarc leaders and an audience of top diplomats, politicians and officials at the inaugural session of the two-day 14th Saarc summit that began in New Delhi yesterday.

He has seen it all right from the first Saarc summit in Dhaka in 1985.

"Saarc is now on the threshold of a new dawn, which opens up new vistas of closer integration, global partnerships and a more robust regional identity," the Maldives president said.

Gayoom, Asia's longest-serving leader, who has shepherded his country for nearly three decades, underlined a "market plus approach" to regional cooperation that would entail greater networking among private enterprises of the region.

He vigorously espoused "a people-centric Saarc" based on accelerated physical, economic and mental connectivity. "Consolidation must go hand in hand with renewal. Saarc must become more dynamic and forward-looking. It must become less of a monopoly of governments and belong more to the people," he added.