PM for greater trade transactions in South Asia

ADDU CITY, Nov 10: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon the South Asian leaders to take bold decisions to tap SAARC potentiality and redeem the political commitment they made a quarter century back, report agencies. Sheikh Hasina was addressing the opening ceremony of the annual gathering of heads of the state or government of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries in the newly refurbished Addu City. Referring to the gloomy picture of the intra-SAARC trade, Hasina said: "Although trade in goods under SAFTA has crossed the billion dollar mark, it is way below its potential." She said intra-regional trade is around 5 per cent of Bangladesh's total trade as against 25-35 per cent in nearby regional blocs. She noted that some progress has been made in reducing the Sensitive Lists of traded goods recently, but many of the exportable goods still remain outside the ambit of the SAFTA agreement. The Prime Minister said non-LDC members should, in the true spirit of regionalism, take the lead to hasten more robust efforts. "A faster, synchronized opening of each other's markets, reduction in trade and non-tariff barriers, will in the long term benefit all our economies." (More on Page 2)