Member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) will start a two-day sub-group meeting in Kathmandu today on 'non-tariff barriers' under the South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) framework, a government official said here yesterday.
According to the official at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the meeting is to be held following a decision taken at the recently concluded Dhaka meeting.
Joint secretaries from the Saarc countries met on April 18-19 in Dhaka. The meeting decided to notify national inquiry and review products' list for export of each members of Saarc, the official said on condition of anonymity.
This meeting will be held at the under-secretary level and the outcome of the meeting will be submitted to the Committee of Expert meeting, which will be held in October.
Three dozens of government officials from Saarc states are attending the meeting.
Almost all the Saarc countries have failed to advance their export among member countries due to regional non-tariff barriers, according to the official.
Standards/quality of goods, laboratory issues and packing mechanisms are some of the issues that will be discussed at the meeting.
Saarc, formed in 1985, is comprised of seven countries -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan will join the next Saarc summit in India in 2007 as a full member.
