A fresh initiative has been taken by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries to sign Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) on February 16, official sources said.
They said the SAARC secretariat has sought opinions from member countries to hold a meeting of the intergovernmental group on transport on February 15-16 aiming to sign the agreement.
"Bangladesh has already expressed its readiness to attend the meeting and sign the agreement," said an official of the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry.
He said if the joint secretary or secretary-level meeting is held successfully, transport ministers of all eight nations are expected to sign the MVA on February 16. Initiative to sign SAARC MVA was taken during the last SAARC summit held in Nepal in November 2014.
But it was brought to a standstill as two members - Pakistan and Sri Lanka - expressed reservations about signing of the agreement, saying that they were yet to complete procedures.
However, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) - four members of the South Asian group - signed another MVA on June 15 last year for seamless movement of people and cargo among the neighbouring countries.
It is expected that after the launch of the the service, the MVA within sub-group of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations would increase economic benefits for the region. Though passenger service under the BBIN MVA was scheduled to be launched in January, it has been delayed for at least six months as two of the four member-countries did not ratify the agreement.
Ministry sources said during the upcoming meeting, the SAARC MVA will be updated in line with the BBIN MVA as there are some progresses in this regard.
"The four-nation BBIN MVA has already been signed. If four other members consider the agreement acceptable, then SAARC MVA will be transformed like BBIN MVA," the official said.
He, however, said after getting confirmation from the SAARC secretariat about holding the meeting in February, the ministry will meet again to review the draft. It will be placed at the next SAARC Summit to be held in Pakistan this year.
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