SAARC CoE meet kicks off

The 12th meeting of SAARC Committee of Experts (CoE) kicked off in Kathmandu Tuesday to finalize outstanding issues of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) accord, which is scheduled to come into force from 1 January 2006.

The meeting will try to make consensus on the three outstanding issues of SAFTA accord, rules of origin, sensitive list and revenue compensation mechanism.

The 12th round of talks of high-ranking commerce officials of the seven-member regional bloc-South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)-will be a crucial one, as the deadline to implement the regional free trade area agreement is nearing.

The 11th meeting of the CoE held on October finalized the issue of technical assistance to the LDCs.

The SAFTA will come into force if the CoE finalizes the outstanding issues. The CoE comprises joint secretaries of all seven-member countries. nepalnews.com pb Nov 29 05