Kathmandu, October 18:

With a view of finalising all outstanding issues, the meeting of the Committee of Experts (CoE) on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) framework agreement kicked off here today.

The 11th round of talks of high-ranking commerce officials of seven-member regional

bloc - South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will be a crucial one,

as the deadline to implement

the regional free trade area agreement is nearing. Previously the meeting was scheduled to be held on October 18-19 in Islamabad, it was changed following last week’s earthquake in Pakistan. The meeting, which officials claim as the final one before finalisation of the SAFTA draft accord, will mainly discuss two outstanding issues — SAFTA sensitive list and mechanism of compensation for revenue loss.

“The deadline is nearing and it is very important to hammer out the outstanding issues before the SAARC Summit,” said a member of Nepali delegation at the CoE meet. The six-member Nepali delegation is headed by Nagindra Prasad Upadhaya, joint secretary at the ministry of industry, commerce and supplies. “The discussions have begun at the sub-group level on product specific rules of origin and mechanism of compensation for revenue loss,” the official said. The 12th SAARC Summit had entrusted the CoE to finalise the unresolved four outstanding issues — sensitive lists, rules of origin, mechanism of compensation for revenue loss and technical assistance (TA) to Least Developed Countries.

The CoE has so far been successful to narrow down differences on TA and rules of origin.

Of three developing countries of SAARC region, India and Pakistan have agreed to provide training and consultancy services as TA on various sectors like trade on agriculture, textile and WTO related matters to LDC members.