Saarc foreign secretaries yesterday decided to seek directions from the South Asian heads of state and government assembling here at the 13th Saarc summit on how to ensure full implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) by the January 1, 2006 deadline.

The decision came at the 31st meeting of Saarc Standing Committee comprising the foreign secretaries of the member states held at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel with Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary (FS) Hemayetuddin in the chair.

Maldives Deputy Foreign Minister Aminath Mohamed Didi, Bhutanese FS Neten Zagmo, Indian FS Shyam Saran, Nepalese Acting FS Nabin Bahadur Shrestha, Pakistani FS Riaz Mohammed Khan and Sri Lankan FS HMGS

Palihakkara attended the meeting.

“The Standing Committee has agreed to give the highest priority to implementing Safta by the deadline… all out efforts would be made to sort out the remaining unresolved issues,” Additional FS of Bangladesh AHM Moniruzzaman told local and foreign journalists covering the summit at Hotel Sonargaon in the evening. He said the committee reviewed the progress of negotiations by the expert committee on Safta and will table the review at the Saarc foreign ministers' meeting slated for today.

The expert committee will meet in Kathmandu on November 29 to December 1 to sort out the disagreements on three contentious points -rules of origin, lists of sensitive products and compensation for revenue loss to the least developed countries (LDCs).

Of the seven Saarc countries, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives are considered as LDCs, and India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as developing countries. The Standing Committee has decided to ask the expert committee to address the disagreements at its Kathmandu meeting in order to expedite the implementation process of Safta.

The Saarc foreign secretaries will also sit in a special session after the summit on Safta implementation, Moniruzzaman said, adding the Saarc Council of Ministers might also seek directions from the Saarc leaders for quick resolution of the differences among the Saarc countries relating to the umbrella agreement.

The Standing Committee decided to set up a South Asian Development Fund (SADF) containing a number of windows to deal with poverty alleviation, problems of disabled persons and media development.

The committee resolved to expand the size of the fund, which now comprises of only $5 million. Moniruzzaman said the Saarc finance ministers will meet after the summit to prepare guidelines for contributing to the SADF by the member countries as well as for its utilisation. India has already committed $100 million for poverty alleviation projects in the Saarc countries.

The Standing Committee meeting yesterday also agreed with India's offer to set up a Saarc Disaster Management Centre. Besides, the meeting discussed the memorandum of understanding on forming a Saarc-Japan Special Fund and strengthening the Saarc Secretariat in Kathmandu.