Kathmandu, February 19:

High profile delegates from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries will land in the capital this weekend for the second of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) meet that is going to be held in the capital on February 26.

The meet was earlier scheduled to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “But considering the unrest in Bangladesh prior to the elections, the meet was decided to be hosted in Nepal,” said a source at the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu here today.

The stage for the meeting of the SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC), the highest decision-making body for SAFTA, will be set by a two-day long meeting of a committee of experts (CoE) on February 24-25. The CoE comprises joint secretaries of trade and commerce ministries of the seven countries — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan. The basic agenda of the summit will be better implementation of the SAFTA agreement to promote and enhance mutual trade and economic cooperation among the contracting states. “However, this time the focus is on fine-tuning the dispute settlement mechanism, ironing out non-tariff barriers and fixing up the list of sensitive items for each of the seven members,” pointed out the official.

Implementation of SAFTA’s Trade Liberation programme (TLP), elimination of quantitative restrictions and how to notify the WTO regarding the SAFTA Agreement will also be discussed, he informed.

Another important issue likely to be taken up at the Kathmandu meeting will be the inclusion of Afghanistan in SAFTA. “For Afghanistan will become a SAARC member in the SAARC meeting scheduled to be held in Delhi on April 3,” pointed out the official.

Meanwhile, preparations are afoot at the SAARC secretariat, which is hosting the high powered summit at Soaltee Crowne Plaza over the weekend. Altogether 55 delegates are expected to come for the meet. While the government has offered to provide for the the accommodation, security and flag-car transport for the seven ministers, the rest of the delegates will be taken care of by their respective countries, informed the SAARC source.

The first SAFTA meet was held in Dhaka in April 2006. SAFTA envisions zero duty trading by 2012, following a series of annual cuts. Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, regarded as the least developing countries in the regional bloc, will get an additional three years to acquire zero duty status.