The Hindu : International : Foreign Secretaries review progress of SAFTA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

International

International

Foreign Secretaries review progress of SAFTA

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

READY FOR TALKS: Foreign Secretaries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries (from left), Secretary-General of SAARC Qama Rahim, Neten Zangma of Bhutan, Shamsher M. Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Shashank of India, Riaz Khokhar of Pakistan, HMGS Palihakkara of Sri Lanka, Maldives Deputy Foreign Minister Hussain Shihab and Madha Acharya of Nepal, before their formal meeting to prepare for talks by their Foreign Ministers in Islamabad on Sunday — AP

ISLAMABAD, JULY 18 . Pakistan made a reference for inclusion of confidence-building measures (CBMs) and peace and security in the agenda, the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Masood Khan, said while briefing reporters on the proceedings.

While his opening statement did not mention the plea made by the Pakistani delegation, the very first question entertained at his press briefing related to peace and security and SAARC charter. "The Pakistan delegation leader made a plea for inclusion of the subject in the SAARC charter. At the moment the SAARC charter does not provide for discussion or resolution of bilateral discussions. Sooner or later we will have to move in this direction (allowing discussion on bilateral issues)," he said.

The External Affairs Additional Secretary (Policy Planning), Suryakanthi Tripathi at a separate briefing maintained that the subject of peace and security was not part of the agenda. "It is likely that Pakistan delegation made remarks on peace and security. However, the SAARC charter does not provide for discussion on peace and security and the issue was not part of the Standing Committee agenda," she said, responding to questions.

In his address to the 12th SAARC summit here early this year, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, had made a strong plea for broadening the scope of the Charter to discuss bilateral disputes. Earlier, the Foreign Secretaries of the regional grouping held talks to review the progress on SAFTA, poverty alleviation and the steps initiated to stop financing of terrorist organisations, ahead of the ministerial conference.

Chaired by Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar and attended by his Indian counterpart Shashank and Foreign Secretary-designate Shyam Saran and others from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the meet reviewed progress on SAFTA which is to come into force on January 1, 2006 and made fully operational by 2016. They reviewed a report presented on SAFTA.

Ms. Tripathi said India was hopeful that SAARC would stick to the schedule. She said at the next meeting of the experts committee on SAFTA, "sensitive lists" would be exchanged.

The Standing Committee also discussed issues related to the "sensitive list," that is the items, which the member-countries would like to be excluded from free trade, and "rules of origin" which relates to the quantum of local content to be added to goods imported from outside the region so as to qualify for trading within SAARC.

Mr. Khan said the Indian and Pakistan Foreign Secretaries would have bilateral interaction on the sidelines of Standing Committee meeting. He said similar meetings would follow this between the External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, , and his Pakistan couterpart, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.

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