"I don't hope the regional countries will be able to reach any major consensus before the summit," he observed in a tone of regret, inaugurating a seminar as the chief guest of the session in the city.

"We can hardly afford to waste any more time to take the FTA process decisively forward and translate the commitments into action," Morshed emphasised. He also underscore the point that, as the trade liberalisation process begins, the Saarc countries have to ensure that the Safta does not suffer the same fate as the preceding South Asia Preferential Trade Agreement (Sapta).

"In charting our future course of action, we should also bear in mind the limitations in the scope of the Safta, which covers only trade in goods, leaving out services and investment," the minister added. The Safta was inked in January 2004 at the 12th Saarc Summit in Islamabad.

The South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (Saceps), a regional think-tank, in co-operation with the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), the premier think-tank of Bangladesh, organised the seminar on 'Promoting Regional Co-operation in South Asia: Issues for the Dhaka Saarc Summit' at Brac Centre Inn auditorium.

Adviser to Foreign Ministry Reaz Rahman, Saceps Chairman Professor Arjun K Sengupta, CPD Chair and Saceps Executive Director Professor Rehman Sobhan and CPD Executive Director Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya also spoke at the session.

The foreign minister said any process of regional economic integration needs to protect for the transitional period the smaller and the weaker member countries in line with the special and differential priorities of the World Trade Organisation.

He said to proceed towards a South Asian Economic Union (SAEU) requires drawing up a road map detailing the successive steps, progressive deepening of integration towards a free trade area, a customs union and a common market.

Morshed said in mapping out a course of action for the future we have begin with an 'Agenda for the Third Decade of Saarc', which should include initiatives and actions to facilitate the progress towards materialising the vision of a SAEU.

"We should ensure the Safta's entry into force by the agreed date of January 1, 2006," the minister said. He expressed the hope that the expert committee concerned will conclude parleys by mid-October.

At the seminar, Reaz Rahman said a key challenge facing the Saarc is predominance of politics over economy, and despite some achievements, doubts persist about the genuineness of the members' commitment.

"To achieve an effective economic integration of the South Asia, we need strong political will and change the distrusting mindset," he noted.

The Saarc commitments have remained largely unimplemented due to a lack of institutional and financial mechanisms for executing regional projects and programmes, Reaz added.

Prof Arjun Sengupta said the present Indian government is totally committed to improve its relationships with the regional countries, particularly Bangladesh.

On Reaz Rahman's remark that in the Saarc politics dominates over economy, he said it cannot stay for long.

Prof Rehman Sobhan mentioned that the stage for a regional energy co-operation is underway, adding the construction of the tripartite gas pipeline is going to be milestone in regional integration.

"We have to think how we can remove the constraints and limitations on official co-operation among the Saarc members. We can't afford the luxury of keeping distance from each other," he felt.

Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said presently the intra-Saarc trade a year stands at less than five percent of the total trade of the region. "It's not at all satisfactory if we look at what are happening in the Southeast Asian and other regions. We must boost the regional trade," said the CPD executive director.