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Committed to implementing SAFTA, say SAARC members

COLOMBO: The Colombo Declaration, adopted at the concluding session of the SAARC Summit here on Sunday, stressed the importance of completing all legislative and other relevant measures to implement within the member-States the provisions of the Regional Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.

It expressed satisfaction with the signing of the SAARC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and expressed appreciation “at the accommodating manner” in which the negotiations were conducted by the member-States to provide each other the widest measures of mutual assistance in criminal matters to ensure a greater sense of security within the region.

The Convention needs to be ratified by the member-States to be operational.

The SAARC Heads of State welcomed the decision of the SAFTA Ministerial Council to commence negotiations on the Framework Agreement on Trade in Services and directed that the Draft Agreement on Investment Promotion and Protection be finalised early and the SAARC Arbitration Council be operationalised.

The Declaration said the members emphasised their commitment to implement South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) “in letter and in spirit” to enable the SAARC to contribute to the dynamic process of Asia’s emergence as the power house of the world.

Though adopted at the 2004 Summit held in Islamabad, the SAFTA regime is still in place.

The leaders, while recognising the need to continue to address the major barriers hindering effective trade liberalisation in the region, which include sensitive lists of items and Non-Trade Barriers (NTBs), directed that the decision to revise the sensitive lists by the SAFTA Ministerial Council be implemented early.

The Declaration said the leaders recognised the need for SAARC to further strengthen its focus on “developing and implementing regional and sub-regional projects” and urged each member-State to consider taking up at least one sub-regional SAARC project as the lead country.

On the signing of the Charter of the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) with a corpus of $ 300 million, the leaders called for an early ratification of the SDF Charter and early operationalisation of the Fund from the available funds.

The identified projects under the project relate to women empowerment, maternal and child health and teachers’ training.

Maintaining that an effective and economical regional telecommunication regime was an essential factor of connectivity, they stressed the need for the member-States to endeavour to move towards a uniformly applicable low tariff, for international direct dial calls within the region.

Voicing concern over escalation of oil prices that threatens the energy security of the region and economic growth, the leaders called for expeditious development of conventional sources of energy and to build up renewable alternative energy resources.

The leaders agreed on creation of a Natural Disaster Rapid Response Mechanism for a coordinated and planned approach under the aegis of the SAARC Disaster Management Centre to deal with emergencies triggered by natural disasters.

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