S Asia to discuss trade, economy

KATHMANDU, JULY 6: 

High-level government officials of the South Asian region will meet in the Maldives in mid-July to oversee the implementation of specific measures, policies and programmes to strengthen and enhance intra-regional trade and economic relations.

“Meeting of the Committee on Economic Cooperation will be held in the Maldives — South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) chair country — on July 15-16,” said commerce and supplies secretary Lal Mani Joshi, who will lead the Nepali team at the meeting. “The meeting will review the implementation status of past agreements and will chart out the future common agendas,” he said, adding that the meet will discuss common agendas like customs, tariffs and negative lists.

The committee is also entitled to recommend policies and measures for promoting intra-regional trade, joint ventures, industrial complementation, investments, marketing cooperation and transferring technologies, he added. They will assess the potential for intra-regional cooperation in trade and economic ties. The meeting will also analyse inter-regional and global developments which have implications for intra-regional cooperation. 

The meeting of the Committee on Economic Cooperation is taking place after three years, though, according to the terms of reference, the secretaries are to sit once a year, preferably before the inter-summit session of the Council of Ministers. 

The last meeting of the Committee on Economic Cooperation took place in 2009. However, non-tariff barriers are still the main reason behind lower volumes of trade among the South Asian countries that have less than five per cent trade among themselves. 

The reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers may help boost trade among the SAARC member countries —Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Intra-regional trade is likely to increase in the future as India has offered duty-free access to all but 25 goods to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the region under South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). According to data, intra-regional trade under the SAFTA accord was worth $ 1.1 billion.

According to the latest statistics, Afghanistan’s sensitive list comprises of 858 products for both LDCs and non-LDCs, Bhutan has 150 items in the list, Maldives has 152, Pakistan has 936, Nepal has 998 for LDCs and 1,036 for non-LDCs, and Sri Lanka has 845 for LDCs and 906 for non-LDCs. Bangladesh has 987 products on the sensitive list for LDCs and 993 for non-LDCs meaning that entry of these products is subject to tariff payment.

However, Maldives is insisting on a 100 per cent reduction of the sensitive list by 2012 to make the regional bloc a free trade area.

Source: THT