ISDS Case Map
SAFTA
India has, of late, engaged itself in forming bilateral/regional economic cooperation in a variety of forms.
The bilateral FTA would go beyond the tariff concessions provided under the SAFTA agreement.
South Asian nations want to ease tariffs gradually with the aim of establishing a free trade zone in about a decade, experts at a trade meeting said on Tuesday.
The commerce minister of Pakistan will make a three-day visit to Dhaka from April 19 to attend the Safta Ministerial Council (SMC) meeting and initiate talks on signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh.
Pakistan has decided not to give most favoured nation (MFN) status to India, even under the recently ratified South Asia free trade agreement (Safta), and has indicated that it will continue to trade with the country on the basis of a positive list.
Pakistan remains unsure of India's role in the South Asian Free Trade Agreement as bilateral economic cooperation talks begin Monday.
India is for a South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) "plus'' a separate free trade arrangement with Bangladesh that would address the existing trade imbalance between the two countries, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said on Wednesday.
India is pushing ahead on negotiations for free trade agreements with a series of Asian and Middle East countries that are expected to result in the emergence of the world's largest free trade area by population.
The member countries of the BIMSTEC and South Asian Free Trade Area may not be able to meet the July 1 deadline for implementation of the pact mainly due to different degrees of opposition from Thailand, India and Sri Lanka.
The chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), Punjab zone, Shafqat Elahi, has welcomed the ratification of SAFTA by the cabinet.
