SAFTA implementation dominates SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in Dhaka

Foreign Ministers of South Asian nations attended a working session on Wednesday morning with a focus on how best to implement the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.

According to official sources, the foreign ministers are expected to iron out the disagreements between two major players in the regional group -Indian and Pakistan-which have been locked in a war of words over the implementation of the regional liberalised trade agreement that was signed during the 12the SAARC summit in Islamabad in January 004.

India has objected to Pakistan's notification regarding tariff concessions extended under SAFTA to SAARC c countries, limiting concession for India only to items on the existing bilateral positive list. It has accused Pakistan of violating the SAFTA rule and jeopardizing the implementation of the agreement in the entire region.

India wants the agreement should be implemented in the sprit in which it was negotiated with all parties living up to the commitment they have solemnly undertaken.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has accused India of violating the SAARC spirit by raising the matter during meetings of the Standing Committee and the Council of Ministers instead of debating it bilaterally at the expert committee and at the commerce minister level.

Pakistan believes that India is propagating the matter wrongly.

The debate remained inconclusive at the two-day standing meeting, and was also raised at the working session that began on Wednesday morning with Bangladesh Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan in the chair.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia while inaugurating the two-day ministerial meeting on Tuesday, however, expressed her happiness over the implementation of the SAFTA, which officially become functional on July 1, 2006 among the SAARC nations.

In the same session, the state minister for Indian external affairs ministry, E Ahmed, called upon the members to help implement the agreement in line with the outcome of the negotiations they had been party to.

Whereas SAARC is the world's biggest economic bloc with a population of 1.4 billion, its member countries trade among themselves less than five per cent of their global trade, far lower compared to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and North American Free Trade Area.

Trade analysts of the region believe that proper implementation of SAFTA would accelerate regional trade to a great extent and bring in huge foreign investment, which would, in turn, contribute greatly to poverty reduction of the region, home to half of the world's poor.

The ministerial meeting, being held at the Sheraton Hotel, will also consider applications of United States, South Korea and European Union as observer of the South Asian regional forum.

It meeting is expected to review the implementation of the decisions of the 13th SAARC summit and the decision of five other ministerial conference that took place in the past eight and half months.

It will also have discussion on poverty alleviation, SAARC visa exemption scheme, SAARC development fund, trade fare, disaster management, anti-terrorism mechanism and SAARC car rally among others.

India's Minister of State for External Aaffairs, E Ahamed, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister K P Sharma Oli, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Bhutan's Foreign Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, Maldives State Minister for Foreign Affairs Abdullah Shahid and Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri are attending the ministerial.

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta is attending the meeting as a special invitee. Afghanistan was made full member of the regional grouping at its 13th summit last November. (ANI)

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