SAARC commerce ministers to meet in Dhaka Feb 2-3

The Commerce Ministers of the SAARC countries are scheduled to meet in Dhaka February 2-3 to discuss ways for implementation of SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangements (SAPTA), reports APB.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the meeting, official sources said.

SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

SAPTA adopted at the seventh SAARC summit in Dhaka in 1993, aims at establishing liberalised business links among the member countries of the regional association.

It will be the third meeting of the SAARC Commerce Ministers. They last met in Islamabad in 1997.

The Commerce Ministers' meeting will be preceded by a two-day meeting of the Committee on Economic Cooperation of the SAARC.

It will be attended by the Secretaries of the Ministries concerned of all the seven member countries.