Safta comes into being: Pakistan, Sri Lanka yet to ratify it
Agencies, New Delhi/Islamabad
South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta), paving way for free trade of goods among countries of the Saarc countries, came into being yesterday but Pakistan is yet to complete the formality of ratifying it."The ratification process is underway. It is just that it was not completed yesterday (the deadline). We hope to do it very soon," Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said in Islamabad. However, Indian commerce ministry officials said that legally the agreement comes into effect from January 1. Operationalisation of Safta, considered as a landmark in the history of the Saarc, is being done as per the implementation schedule. Safta was agreed upon at the Islamabad Summit in 2004. Indian Cabinet ratified the agreement on December 29. "Implementation of Safta will further strengthen our trade relations with the Saarc countries," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said. The Safta agreement was to come into force from January 1, 2006, but due to the ratification process delays and other issues now the individual member countries will be announcing their enforcement dates during January to June 2006, reports Pakistan-based newspaper the Daily Times. Pakistan will enforce Safta agreement from July 1, 2006, a commerce ministry official told the daily on Saturday. The process of ratification of the agreement from the federal cabinets, report to the Saarc secretariat and notification by the secretariat would be completed before June 30, 2006. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are in the process of ratification of the agreement, the official said, adding that Pakistan and India are still negotiating on some issues relating to tariff and non-tariff barriers that were being faced by Pakistani exporters in India and these negotiations would be finalised before June 30, 2006. As per the agreement, Saarc member countries India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will bring down their customs duties to 0-5 per cent by 2013 while the least developed members Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan will do it by 2018. New Delhi has a sensitive list of 765 for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and 884 items for non-LDCs. Tariff reduction would be carried out on those items. India being the larger and relatively developed economy will be providing concessions to LDCs, including a mechanism for compensation of revenue loss due to reduction in duties, technical assistance.
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