SAARC Secretary For Moving From Free Trade To Economic Union

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SAARC Secretary For Moving From Free Trade To Economic Union

Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Arjun Bahadur Thapa emphasised the regional countries to move from South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) to South Asian Economic Union (SAEU).

During the 8th SAARC Finance Secretaries inaugural meeting that took place in Islamabad recently, he pressed upon the member countries to focus on customs-related trade facilitation measures, finalising the draft on SAARC Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment, implementation of SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS), Avoidance of Double Taxation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and Transactions in Local Currencies.

Secretary Finance Dr. Waqar Massoud Khan was elected as the new Chairman of the Saarc Finance Secretaries meeting. Dr Khan said, "Though, considerable progress has been made in some areas under the ambit of this meeting, many of the issues still need prioritised attention by the national governments. A lot of progress is still due on the Regional Economic Integration Study (Phase-II). There is need to focus on the priority areas as identified by Saarc-ADB meetings that include Reduction and Removal of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) and Para-Tariff Barriers (PTBs), Energy Cooperation, Trade Facilitation Measures, Investment Cooperation, Reduction on products in the Sensitive Lists, SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) and Improvement in Connectivity (rail, road, air, maritime) among Member States.

The mechanism of the Special Meeting of SAARC -ADB, with the technical and financial support of ADB, is good to fine tune the prioritised areas as indicated in the Regional Economic Integration Study, with an aim to attain the target of the South Asian Economic Union." Those who attended the meeting included, Mustafa Aria, Director AID Management Ministry of Finance, Afghanistan, Muhammad Yousuf Joint Secretary from Bangladesh, Dasho Nim Dorji, Finance Secretary of Bhutan, Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Economic Affairs government of India, Ms.Aishath Fazla from Maldives, Baikuntha Aryal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance Nepal, Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Secretary from Sri Lanka, H.E. Arjun Bahadur Thapa, Secretary General SAARC Secretariat, Dr. Sunil Motiwal from Saarc Development Fund.