|
|
 |
 |
|||
Leaders of seven South Asian countries agreed on Sunday to finalise the draft for a regional free trade zone by the end of 2002, a year behind schedule. A declaration adopted at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit agreed that the regional grouping should finalise the draft of a free trade treaty by the end of this year. The draft was scheduled to be finalised by the end of 2001 but it failed to meet the deadline as adequate negotiations between the seven members — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives — could not be held. The SAARC declaration, which came at the end of a two-day summit in the Nepalese capital, also strongly condemned terrorism. "The leaders called on all states to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts by criminalising the collection of funds for such terrorist acts in states or acquiescing in organised activities within its territory directed towards the commission of such acts," it said. The next summit is scheduled to be held in early 2003 in Pakistan.
|
Contact Information: Send mail to