SMC meeting begins in Kathmandu 
The meeting of SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC) has begun in Kathmandu on Monday.
The SMC meeting will discuss and clear intra-regional free trade issues for the forthcoming 14th SAARC summit scheduled for April in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
Besides review of the SAFTA implementation, SAARC commerce ministers will also discuss a report forwarded by the expert group on better implementation of the SAFTA agreement in a bid to promote and enhance mutual trade and economic cooperation in the region. Removal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers and inclusion of Afghanistan is also expected to be discussed in the meeting. Afghanistan will formally become a SAARC member during the forthcoming summit.
The two-day long meeting of the SAFTA CoE concluded Sunday agreeing to forward the unresolved agenda for the ministerial council. The unresolved issues include removal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers, fine-tuning the dispute settlement mechanism and finalising the list of sensitive items for each of the seven members.
SAFTA envisions zero duty trading by 2012, three additional years for LDCs like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. nepalnews.com pb/ia Feb 26 07
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