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Safta treaty may be ready before Saarc summit: Pak officials
Islamabad, Dec 07: With the successful completion of the penultimate round of talks of Saarc officials in Kathmandu this month, the much-awaited agreement on South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta) was likely to be signed during the Saarc summit in Islamabad next month.
Islamabad, Dec 07: With the successful completion of
the penultimate round of talks of Saarc officials in Kathmandu
this month, the much-awaited agreement on South Asia Free
Trade Area (Safta) was likely to be signed during the Saarc
summit in Islamabad next month.
Sounding optimistic about finalisation of the Safta
process before the summit, officials of the Pakistan Commerce
Ministry said the talks at the level of commerce secretaries
of the Saarc countries would be held in Islamabad on December
27 to finalise details of the agreement.
The prospects appeared to be bright as Pakistan and India had agreed to further include 500 tariff lines in the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (Sapta) basket of the tariff concessions during the Kathmandu secretary-level talks, local daily 'The News' quoted the officials as saying.
The depth of preferential tariff concessions extended by both sides ranges from 10 to 25 per cent, they said adding "these concessions will form part of the fourth round of trade negotiations under Sapta".
They said at the end of the third round, Pakistan had granted concessions on 23 items to non-LDCs (least developed countries) and 52 items to LDCs.
Pakistan has already finalised a strategy to hold upcoming trade talks with India under Sapta and Safta arrangements and various concessions will be offered to all Saarc countries keeping in view the attitude of all member states towards Islamabad's initiatives, they said.
Bureau Report
The prospects appeared to be bright as Pakistan and India had agreed to further include 500 tariff lines in the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (Sapta) basket of the tariff concessions during the Kathmandu secretary-level talks, local daily 'The News' quoted the officials as saying.
The depth of preferential tariff concessions extended by both sides ranges from 10 to 25 per cent, they said adding "these concessions will form part of the fourth round of trade negotiations under Sapta".
They said at the end of the third round, Pakistan had granted concessions on 23 items to non-LDCs (least developed countries) and 52 items to LDCs.
Pakistan has already finalised a strategy to hold upcoming trade talks with India under Sapta and Safta arrangements and various concessions will be offered to all Saarc countries keeping in view the attitude of all member states towards Islamabad's initiatives, they said.
Bureau Report