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Commerce Secretaries meet on SAFTA begins in Islamabad
- ‘Differences nowhere near solution’
KATHMANDU, DEC 24 - A two-day special meeting of Commerce Secretaries from seven SAARC countries kicked off today in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad to resolve outstanding differences on finalising the framework for regional free trade area, SAFTA.
"However, the differences is nowhere near the solution, despite the hard efforts that commerce secretaries put in throughout the day’s negotiation," a Nepali government source who is attending the meeting summed up the Tuesday’s proceedings.
Commerce secretaries from developing members including India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka still opined differently on the matter of providing special preferential trade arrangements to the LDC members including Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives in the regional free trade area, he further told The Kathmandu Post.
Provision of providing special preferential treatment to least developed countries in the to-be-established regional free trade regime is the bone of contention of the meeting.
The LDC members are strongly demanding special treatment to their products in regional market, but the developing partners have been opposing it.
It was basically this difference that had prevented the finalisation of SAFTA draft treaty framework in the sixth round of joint secretary-level negotiations held in Kathmandu earlier this month and emphasised on the need of intervention from the higher level.
During the first day meeting, the secretaries discussed on issues of ‘sensitive list’ and ‘safe guarding and counter veiling measures’, among others, the source added.
Representatives from least developed members reiterated their stance that their products should be exempted from safe guard and counter veiling measures in the regional free trade area. "However, secretaries of developing countries reaffirmed their earlier stance and opposed the proposal," the source informed.
Given the stiffness exhibited by the negotiating officials, particularly from developing countries, the source added, nothing much can be expected from this meeting regarding the finalisation of SAFTA framework.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel, the Nepali Commerce Secretary in a telephonic conversation to The Kathmandu Post from Islamabad said that the meeting is proceeding in positive direction.
According to him, statements of participants from developing member countries sound more committed to finalising the SAFTA framework. "We expect some positive results by the end of the meeting tomorrow," he added.
The ongoing meeting of commerce secretaries is being held on the special initiatives of the SAARC Secretariat after the joint secretary-level body of Committee of Experts (CoE) failed to finalise SAFTA framework during its last meeting.
The secretariat needs to finalise the SAFTA draft treaty framework and table it for approval in the forthcoming 12th SAARC Summit, as per the directives of 11th Summit. The forthcoming Summit is scheduled to begin in Islamabad on 4 January 2004.
So far, SAARC has already missed two deadlines aimed at finalising the SAFTA draft treaty framework.Posted on: 2003-12-25 04:49
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