BIMSTEC meeting finalizes rules for dispute
The 10th meeting of BIMSTEC trade negotiating committee (TNC) concluded in the capital on Tuesday finalising rules for dispute settlement of the regional cooperation forum.
The negotiating teams of seven countries agreed upon seeking third party mediation in case of dispute between any two countries. “The TNC is yet to set timeframe for operationalisation of this provision,” said Nagendra Prasad Upadhaya, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) who led the Nepali delegation.
Similarly, the 10th meeting had discussed about safeguarding, anti-dumping, rules of origin. Under the rules of origin, ‘valuation and product specification rules’ are yet to be settled.
The week-long meeting also initiated negotiations on service and investment for the first time, said Upadhaya.
As BIMSTEC is set to get fully implemented by July 2007, Nepal, like other members states, has started discussing ways to open its service and investment sectors to foreign investment. With the new development, the service sector will have a tough time coping with emerging global and regional competition.
The meeting also agreed to reduce the negative list up to 20 percent. Currently, Nepal’s negative list is around 22 percent.
Upadhaya said that Nepal urged for special and differential treatment for the least developed countries (LDCs) like Nepal in safeguard measures, which received due consideration from other members.
The issues of investment promotion and protection would be discussed in the forthcoming meeting of TNC to be held in Bangkok in February 2006. As per BIMSTEC framework agreement, LDCs will seek special treatment by adopting safeguard mechanisms while going into free market for investment and service sectors, Upadhyaya said.
BIMSTEC, which was established in 1997 groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri-Lanka and Thailand with the aim of creating and enabling environment for rapid economic development. nepalnews.com pb Dec 28 05
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