Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan yesterday hoped that the leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) would reach a consensus on establishing South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) at next week's summit in Pakistan.

"Although a final decision has not yet been taken, we hope the heads of government of the seven south Asian nations would reach a consensus on Safta," he told reporters at Zia International Airport (ZIA) prior to his departure for Islamabad at noon.

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In reply to a question about unequal economic status of the Saarc countries, Khan said Bangladesh will seek withdrawal of tariff and non-tariff barriers within one year from three developing member states -- India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

And four leased developed countries (LDCs) within the bloc -Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives -- would follow suit after 10-12 years to have a level playing field for equitable economic benefit of the people, like in European Union (EU) and other economic groupings, he observed.

Khan, who will attend the meeting of the Saarc council of ministers beginning in Islamabad today, said the January 4-6 summit will focus on Safta, poverty alleviation and social charter.

Bangladesh, he said, has already finalised its report on poverty alleviation, containing recommendations on how to deal with the problem, which will be placed during the summit for approval.

Khan, however, said Dhaka would stress implementation of the recommendations instead of holding those as a mere paperwork in the report.

Billing the 12th summit as a milestone for Saarc, he said the moot, being delayed by one year, will focus more on economic issues to cope with prevailing trend in global economies.

In reply to a question, he said

although Saarc cannot discuss contentious bilateral issues as per its charter, multilateral political issues like situation in the Middle East and the 'road map' for peace might be discussed at the summit level.

On terrorism, the foreign minister said every member country is committed to combating terrorism under the Saarc anti-terrorism charter. "It's a fact that only an individual country cannot combat it unilaterally -- it needs concerted efforts by all member states.

"To combat terrorism, it requires political will and commitment by political leadership and combined efforts by all member states, " Khan told the newspersons.

He said Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who will lead Bangladesh delegation to the three-day summit, will hold bilateral meetings with the Saarc leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

To a query, Khan said they would try to settle the issue of stranded Pakistanis through amicable discussion with the Pakistan government.