New Delhi: To boost trade amongst members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, an agreement to allow free movement of vehicles carrying cargo as well as passengers was proposed at the recently concluded summit in Nepal. However Pakistan refused to sign it, seeking more time to consult all its provinces.
As the situation remains unresolved, India is now set to bypass Pakistan and instead sign a similar sub regional agreement with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh as part of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) another grouping of south Asian countries, at an upcoming meet to be held in Kolkata in the first week of February.
Hindustan Times reports that currently India only has a bilateral motor vehicle agreement with Nepal and Bangladesh only, but a multilateral pact would go a long way in boosting trade in the region. The report says, India has decided to now tap its eastern neighbours. The framework of the new agreement is likely to be finalised in a meeting of the transport secretaries of the four SASEC countries, which includes India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Pakistan is not part of this grouping. SASEC was set up in 2001 to bring together these six countries to promote regional prosperity and boost trade by improving cross border connectivity.
The report quotes a senior unnamed official in the government of India as saying, Because Pakistan sought more time, we could not sign the pact during the Kathmandu summit, despite the willingness of the remaining SAARC member countries that have land route. There was uncertainty about Pakistan and it was felt that there is no point delaying signing of the agreement that would strengthen regional economic cooperation. So we decided to use the SASEC platform for signing a similar agreement allowing free vehicular movement among member countries.
According to the report, a meeting to flesh out the details of the SASEC motor vehicle agreement was discussed between senior officials on foreign affairs and road transport ministry officials early this week. Road transport secretary Vijay Chhibber has also reportedly written to Indias foreign secretary Sujata Mehta on this matter.
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