The Commerce Ministers of seven member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) will meet in Islamabad from November 21 to 23 to explore ways to further promote trade between the member states.
Pakistan's Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar, who is with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in the tour of three SAARC countries, while talking to APP said the meeting was being hosted by Pakistan and it would discuss all the options to improve trade volume in the region.
The Commerce Minister along with Minister of Industries and Production Jehangir Tareen and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar held a meeting with his Nepalese counterpart Ishwor Pokhrel and discussed various aspects to promote bilateral trade.
Humayun Akhtar said during his meeting with the Commerce Minister of Nepal, he discussed the issue of enhancing co-ordination of SAARC with European Union. He said the issue of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) was also discussed and said Pakistan needed support from Nepal and other member states of SAARC on that issue.
The Commerce Minister said the South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta) was also discussed during his meeting with the Nepalese counterpart and decided it should be fully utilised to get maximum benefits for the people of the region.
Humayun Akhtar said Pakistan and Nepal also discussed options for joint venture in different fields including tourism and added there were a number of products which could be exported to Nepal from Pakistan and hoped the meeting of Commerce Ministers of SAARC countries would help to boost trade links between the member states of the region.