Leaders of India, Pakistan and five other South Asian nations signed a draft agreement vowing to slash trade barriers starting from 2006, to boost growth in a region that is home to half the world's poor.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries, which also include Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives, also agreed to all but eliminate tariffs by 2016. That would bring to fruition the idea of a South Asian Free Trade Agreement that was envisaged in 1985, when the group was formed.
South Asia, home to a quarter of the world's people, is moving to emulate ASEAN and the EU. Trade between ASEAN nations makes up 63 percent of Southeast Asia's trade and intra-EU trade accounts for two-thirds of the trade of the 15 EU countries.
Trade among South Asian countries, 70 percent dominated by India, is barely 5 percent of the region's total.
"We have finally come to accept that if we do not close ranks our peoples will sink deeper into poverty and our countries will continue to suffer the consequences of discord and weakness in the fiercely competitive world," Bhutan's Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigmi Thinley said.
The signing ceremony, broadcast by Pakistan Television, came at the end of 12th SAARC summit in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.
Under the planned trade agreement India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the region's largest economies, have until the end of 2012 to reduce tariffs to between zero and 5 percent.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives have until 2016.
Each country will be able to maintain a "sensitive list" of products on which tariffs won't be reduced.
"The accord will open up markets such as Pakistan that are not available today," said Sanjiv Bajaj, vice-president in charge of finance at Bajaj Auto Ltd, India's No. 2 motorcycle maker. "With duties coming down, our products would be cheaper in the other countries like Bangladesh."
Trade among the seven countries, home to more than 1.5 billion people, is an annual US$4 billion and may rise to US$14 billion once restrictions are removed, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates.
India has a free-trade agreement with Sri Lanka and open borders with Bhutan and Nepal, while Pakistan is negotiating free-trade deals with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS