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SENSITIVE LIST OF GOODS FOR SAFTA

Experts start talks in Nepal

BDNEWS, Dhaka
A two-day meeting of the Committee of Experts (CoE) of Saarc member countries began in Kathmandu yesterday to finalise of the sensitive list of commodities for Safta.
"The meeting is expected to make the final sensitive list soon, keeping in mind to protect their respective national interests," said a senior commerce ministry official.
Besides sensitive list, the CoE meeting is also discussing on rules of origin, revenue loss compensation mechanism for least developed countries (LDCs) and technical assistance for LDCs, he said.
Official trade experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are taking part in the meet to
settle the unresolved issues before enforcing the South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta) agreement from January 1, 2006.
The CoE, comprising deputy secretaries of the ministry of commerce of the member countries of the 7-nation forum, had already held eight meetings on reciprocal basis in the capitals of the member countries for discussing the issues.
"The main focus of the ninth round talks of the CoE will be on the issue of the sensitive list," a commerce ministry official said.
The official also said that all these issues will be finalised in two meetings of the CoE in the next two to three months so that implementation of the Safta could be ensured by the stipulated time.
Bangladesh has made a final sensitive list of 1,322 items, which
were earlier 1,306. "We have added 16 restricted items, particularly the alcohol-based ones on the list," said Aminul Islam, the Tariff Commission chairman.
India has made a sensitive list of 1,200 items, while Pakistan 1,310, Sri Lanka 1,065, Nepal 1,315, Bhutan 132 and the Maldives 582, according to the commerce ministry sources.
The Saarc-member countries signed Safta on January 6, 2003 with a pledge to scale down their tariff in two phases to 0-5 percent that will come into force on January 1, 2006, and will be fully implemented by December 31, 2015.
Earlier, in the first week of July Bangladeshi Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan indicated that implementation of the Safta may be delayed.