Standard Contracts
BackgroundSouth Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta) • September 4th, 2016
Almost ten years after the idea was first mooted to form a free trade area, the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) came into operation in July 2006, renewing hopes of greater economic cooperation within the region in an increasingly globalizing world. Under the Agreement, the South Asian region will move to a free trade area by 2016 with the implementation of the tariff liberalization programme, bringing 1.4 billion people in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka closer together (Afghanistan will come on board once it formally embraces SAFTA) in the web of economic cooperation.
THE SOUTH ASIAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (SAFTA): TOWARDS A MULTILATERAL FRAMEWORKSouth Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta) • December 24th, 2004
The South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA)1, signed by the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at Islamabad, Pakistan on the 6th of January 2004, presents the seven South Asian countries2 with numerous opportunities for participating in the multilateral trade agenda. Coming at a time when diplomatic relations between the nations of South Asia show definitive signs of improvement (specifically the thaw in relations between the governments of the two major economies of India and Pakistan), the conclusion of SAFTA represents a positive indicator of enhanced and mutually beneficial regional cooperation for the countries and provides a framework for concrete opportunities for trade between the signatory countries.
