Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed has urged the SAARC leaders to remove trade barriers among the member countries to increase trade and commerce for combating poverty from this region.
Tofail Ahmed came up with the call while addressing the 8th meeting of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) ministerial council held in the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu on July 24.
Addressing the meeting, the minister also underscored the need for concluding the ongoing negotiations in the service sector under the framework of SAFTA as soon as possible to integrate service sectors into the SAARC regional economy.
In his statement, Tofail said: “Although the SAARC has huge potential, especially in enhancing trade and reducing poverty, we are yet reach our targeted goals even after eight years of SAFTA formation.”
He also called upon all the member states to consider meaningful reduction of the sensitive lists, so the export barriers would be removed among the member countries.
Attending the inaugural ceremony, the commerce minister met the Bhutanese Prime Minister while both the leaders stressed the need for concerted efforts from all the member countries to reach the goal of economic integration of the South Asian region within the shortest possible time.
Later, Tofail had a meeting with the commerce minister of Nepal and discussed various bilateral issues of mutual interest including cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, hydro-power and connectivity.
Bhutan hosted the eight meeting of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) ministerial council in Thimphu on 24th July 2014 at the convention center.
SAFTA is an agreement reached on January 6, 2004 at the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad, Pakistan to create a free trade area of 1.8 billion people in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Earlier, the seven foreign ministers of the region signed a framework agreement on SAFTA to reduce customs duties of all traded goods to zero by the year 2016.
The SAFTA agreement came into force on 1 January 2006 and is operational following the ratification of the agreement by the seven governments.
