India for increased intra-SAARC trade to beat slowdown

October 28, 2009 04:38 pm | Updated 04:38 pm IST - Kathmandu

Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry.

Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry.

India today asked its South Asian neighbours to increase intra-regional trade as a cushion against slowdown in exports to the US and European markets.

Addressing the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Ministerial Council here, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said with the recession in the developed markets, all SAARC member nations would have witnessed a slowdown in their exports.

“This challenge reaffirms our need for greater intra-regional trade integration,” he said.

In the last five years since signing of the SAFTA, the intra-regional trade in South Asia accounts for only 4.31 per cent of its total international trade.

For instance, out of India’s total global trade of USD 483 billion for 2008-09, its engagement with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries was merely USD 10 billion.

Sharma also urged Pakistan and Sri Lanka to prune their negative list for the least developed countries.

He said India would soon implement reduction in import tariff for non-least developed countries (NLDCs) like Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.