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SAPTA to help boost trade, hope leaders

If it materialises, it would bring dramatic results in a region whose economies, for historical reasons, are separately oriented towards the West
KATHMANDU: South Asian leaders are hoping that the proposal for the SAARC Pre ferenttal Trading Arrangement (SAPTAI would go a long way in helping boost trade and development tn the region.
President Ranaslnghe Premadasa of Shri Lanka, who made the proposal, has visited South Asian capitals to drum up support for the proposal.
SAARC is acronym of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation that includes Bangladesh. Bhutan. India. Maldives. Nepal, Pa-klstan and Shri Lanka. The organisation was launched tn December 1985.
In an apparent bid to take the SAPTA on the next stage. Shri Lanka has announced it would be taking some unilateral steps to make the SAPTA process move ahead. For example. Colombo would import products that other SAARC member states have but which are not produced tn Shri Lanka.
The SAPTA proposal, which is now being finalised by senior SAARC officials, Is designed to dismantle existing regional trade and transit barriers and pave the way for the creation of a common market tn the region which houses a fifth of world population.
The proposal would be considered at the SAARC annual summit meeting scheduled tn Dhaka from December 12-13. The Summit is expected to be dominated by the issues of economic cooperation and. development.
Under the SAPTA arrangement, it is being proposed that SAARC members accord each other the most favoured nation (MFN) status and non-discri minatory treatment.
Shri Lanka hopes to see the proposal bear
fruit by 1997 even though some countries are reluctant to support the proposal within the SAARC framework. "We are committed to a South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement by 1997 If not earlier.* says President Premadasa, who heads the regional organisation. The annual leadership will pass on to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh this December
President Premadaaa's visit to South Aslan capitals Is politically very significant as many of these Aslan countries share Colombo's fear about India which is the largest country in the region. They share the common apprehension that India has been trying to dominate the
transit and transport facilities to member countries.
Over the period of time, we should be working towards lowering of tariff and non tariff barriers to work to liberalise trade towards eventually having a common market In South Asia. Premadasa told a press conference here.
He said a degree of pro-gress towards liberalisation of trade within South Asia has been achieved, adding "We have been able to focus attention the core areas of regional cooperation."
A press statement at the end of Premadasa s visit here said Shri Lanka and Nepal
region.
It has also been suggested that Premadasa's visit is being used in an effort to form an al Hance to counter India's dominating role. Although the smaller countries are unhappy about India's rote, there ate no signs that these countries are actually ganging up against the region's perceived bully.
"SAARC provides a useful forum for smaller countries such as Nepal to have their say in regional matters." says an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu.
During his visit to Kathmandu. Premadasa discussed with Prime Minister Oirtja Prasad Koirala the SAPTA proposal. The two leaders agreed that It would provide for adequate
expressed satisfaction that SAARC was being streamlined and rationalised tn a manner that made it more businesslike and more effective Instrument for regional cooperation.'
Koirala and Premadasa appreciated the SAARC Initiative In various areas of cooperation such as poverty alleviation, trade Hberalisstion and funding arrangement for regional ventures.
India's support for the SAPTA proposal 1s critical. Whether India's Prime Mi nister P V Narasimha Rao would support the Shri Lankan proposal Is difficult to say. This Is because Premadasa has not been particularly close to India.
Last year, both Nepal and Bhutan stayed away when Colombo made the first attempt to play host to the annual SAARC summit. Pre-
madasa then blamed India for Influencing the two countries decision
Premadasa. who also stayed away from the signing ceremony of the Indo Shri Lankan accords in 1967. visited New Delhi October 1 3. But, as expected, there were no dramatic breakthroughs In the bilateral ties between the two countries
The SAPTA accords, which has been envisaged as a foundation for the creation of a South Asian Common Market, Is crucial to regional development. A lot of ground has been covered since SAPTA was proposed at the SAARC foreign minister s meeting In 1991 An Inter Governmental Group has worked out the details of the proposal.
If SAPTA materialises. It would bring dramatic results in the region whose economies, for historical reasons, are separately oriented to wards the Industrialised West.
If it does nM happen, this would mean that the present structural rigidity would continue and thus constrain, if not prevent, economic cooperation tn South Asia, particularly tn matters of trade and commerce.
In any case, most South Asian countries are vying and competing with each other in either selling their raw materials and primary products to the West or sending their labour to oil-rich Middle East countries
But the success In getting all members agree to SAPTA would make a major difference at a time when SAARC Is getting the reputation of yet another forum for the leaders to deliver speeches and decide where and when to meet next without producing concrete results
— Depthneu’S Asia