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Kathmandu Wednesday January 02, 2002 Paush 18, 2058.
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Foreign secys back UN resolution on terrorism
By Damakant Jayshi
KATHMANDU, Jan 1 :Concluding its three-day meeting in the capital, the
Standing Committee comprising the Foreign Secretaries of the SAARC countries on Tuesday
recommended that the United Nations Resolution 1373 (on terrorism) be implemented in its
totality in the region.
The anti-terrorism resolution was unanimously passed by the UN Security
Council on September 28 after the terrorist strikes in the USA more than two weeks before.
Besides condemning the September 11 attacks in the US, the Council had asked
all States to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorism, as well as criminalise the
wilful provision or collection of funds for such acts. It asked for the freezing of all
terrorists’ accounts without delay. The Council also decided that States should
refrain from providing any form of support to entities or persons involved in terrorist
acts and deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, commit terrorist acts and
provide safe havens to the terrorists, among others.
Today, the Standing Committee agreed that the member states need to speed up
the enabling legislation on the SAARC convention on terrorism, said Nepal’s Acting
Foreign Secretary and Chairperson of the Committee, Madhu Raman Acharya.
When asked to comment on the atmosphere during the talks, Acharya said the
"bilateral atmosphere was very nice". Acharya revealed that Nepal’s
proposal to make SAARC more business-like has now been in-built in the SAARC agenda.
While some countries have enacted national legislations to implement the
terms of the Regional Convention on Suppression Terrorism, signed in the 3rd Kathmandu
Summit in 1987. A Foreign Ministry official said that the remaining countries are in
different stages of preparing the required legislations.
Acharya revealed that the Standing Committee adopted a comprehensive agenda
for the consideration of the SAARC Council of (Foreign) Ministers which is beginning its
two-day meet tomorrow. All the foreign ministers except India’s Jaswant Singh are in
Kathmandu. Singh is arriving tomorrow by a special flight. Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan
Mahat will represent Nepal in the meeting.
The Standing Committee, said Acharya, decided to recommend that the treaty
framework for the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) be concluded by 2002. The committee
also recommended acceleration of the South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement (SAPTA).
In this regard, Nepal is scheduled to host the fourth round of negotiations in the last
week of January. At present there are over 5500 goods enjoying the preferential trade
status. Some more goods are to be included soon, said an official.
Foreign Ministry officials attach considerable importance to this
development. They expressed the hope that by 2008, almost all the trade barriers would be
dismantled to make SAFTA fully operational.
Besides closer regional economic co-operation, the Acting Foreign Secretary
also said that the Standing Committee discussed poverty alleviation, social issues and
institutional matter.
Nepal is also holding a meeting of Committee of Economic Co-operation (CEC)
this year. However, the dates are yet to be finalised. The first CEC was also held in
Kathmandu in September 1991. The CEC, comprising commerce/trade secretaries of the region,
has the mandate to formulate and oversee implementation of policies and programmes to
strengthen intra-regional trade and economic relations.
In addition to the CEC meet, a number of ministerial meetings are on the
anvil this year. Pakistan is hosting a meeting of Finance and Planning ministers on
poverty alleviation, Bhutan on environment, India on science and technology, and Sri Lanka
on culture.
Nepal is also hosting the Fourth SAARC Trade Fair this year.
The Group of Eminent Persons (GEP) vision of creating South Asian Economic
Union (SAEU) turning the region into an economic union was also adopted. The GEP was also
formed at the Male Summit. The GEP has recommended that the SAARC region be converted into
an economic union by 2020. The Foreign Secretaries accepted the validity of the growth
quadrangle that was proposed by the GEP as a step to expand economic co-operation.
Besides discussing the analytical report of the Secretary General, the
Standing Committee adopted the recommendations of the Programming Committee on seven
technical committees and five regional centres, among others.
The Committee has decided to recognise a number of institutions – on
insurance, environment, engineering and radiology – as SAARC regional bodies.
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