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SAARC sets up group to oversee SAPTA-to-SAFTA transition

The South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, in spite of being overshadowed by the summit between the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers, is trying to focus on its core agenda, economic issues.

The standing committee, which met on Saturday and Sunday, considered the progress in the implementation of the South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement, and matters relating to transition from SAPTA to the South Asian Free Trade Agreement and other issues relating to co-operation in core economic areas.

Even as the Indian side denied suggestions that SAARC has been unable to achieve substantial progress on the economic front thanks mainly to the differences between India and Pakistan, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said the Colombo summit will have to give directions on how the deadline for achieving SAFTA, set for 2001, could be met. According to him, his side was looking at evolving what he described as the 'framework treaty' for achieving this end.

The Colombo SAPTA talks are the third in the series. It was agreed to consider chapter-wise and not product-wise categories between countries for preferential trade. "Each of us has given wish-lists," an official said.

A group has also been set up to identify issues in the transition to SAFTA. It will commence discussions on a specific legal document to establish the free trade area.

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