1

INTRODUCTION
No country is self-dependant in every aspect. One product may grow better in one country than another. Some goods may not grow at all in some countries or may be produced more efficiently in other countries. Yet, demand for any kind of good may exist all around the globe. Hence, there are benefits from sharing resources with each other and such resource sharing is typically carried out via international trade. Mutual benefits are the reason for international trade. United efforts can achieve impossible tasks. If the SAFTA agreement would be implemented in all aspects, it would be a strong force to make South Asia a poverty-free region. As pointed out by Mahmud (2006), exports have been one part of Bangladeshs growth and poverty-reduction dynamics, growing at an average of 15 percent annually since the late 1980s. One of the main economic reasons behind regional trade blocks is to allow their regional members to benefit from economic cooperation and comparative advantages. In 1980, Bangladesh had suggested a regional cooperative body of South Asian leaders, which then led to the establishment of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985

Historical Background
Establishment of SAARC
In November 1980, the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh sent a proposal to the Heads of the States of seven South Asian countries to think about a platform of regional cooperation. Following that proposal, Foreign Secretaries of seven South Asian countries met for the first time in Colombo in April 1981. That meeting was followed by the foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi in August 1983, the adoption of the Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation, as well as the launching of the Integrated Program of Action (IPA), which initially addressed five areas of cooperation:

a. agriculture, b. rural development, c. telecommunications, d. meteorology, and e. Health and population.

Two additional areas covering

f. scientific and technological cooperation and g. Sports, arts and culture were added to the IPA at a later stage.

At a meeting of Heads of State of Government, held in Dhaka on 7-8 December 1985, a Charter was adopted that formally established SAARC. The 1985 meeting in Dhaka is subsequently known as the first SAARC Summit. Besides the objectives of SAARC provided below, SAARCs general provisions are that a. decisions at all levels in SAARC shall be taken on the basis of unanimity and that b. bilateral and contentious issues shall be excluded from the deliberations of the Association

SAARC also adopted three principles.

First, the cooperation respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, noninterference in the internal affairs of other States and mutual benefit. Second, such cooperation is to complement and not to substitute bilateral or multilateral cooperation. And third, such cooperation should be consistent with the bilateral and multilateral obligations of its Member States.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organization of South Asian nations, which was established on 8 December 1985 when the government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka formally adopted its charter providing for the promotion of economic and social progress, cultural development within the South Asia region and also for friendship and cooperation with other developing countries. It is dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural development emphasizing collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members are Sri Lanka, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2007. Meetings of heads of state are usually scheduled annually

The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first raised in November 1980. After consultations, the foreign secretaries of the seven founding countriesBangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lankamet for the first time in Colombo in April 1981. This was followed a few months later by a meeting of the Committee of the Whole, which identified five broad areas for regional cooperation. The foreign ministers, at their first meeting in New Delhi in August 1983, adopted the Declaration on South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and formally launched the Integrated Program of Action (IPA) in the five agreed areas of cooperation: agriculture; rural development; telecommunications; meteorology; and health and population activities. Later, transport; postal services; scientific and technological cooperation; and sports, arts, and culture were added to the IPA.

Need and Importance of SAARC:

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an association of the developing countries of South Asia. On the occasion of the 26th inauguration of the Advisory Committee of Colombo Plan in 1977, His Majesty King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev called upon the representatives to co-operate for the development of water resource. The initiation for the organization was made by the President of Bangladesh in 1980. Then the foreign ministers of the 7 countries met in New Delhi in 1983 and adopted declaration of South Asian Regional Co-operation. Eventually, SAARC organization was formally established at Dhaka summit meeting held in 1985. According to the World Bank Report 1980, about 75 percent people of

this region are poor. So the main problem of this organization is the elimination of poverty. Another aim of this organization is to do away with economic and social imbalance of the member states. In order to promote mutual co-operation and good faith among the citizens of SAARC countries, the first SAARC festival was held in India from October 9 to 24, 1992. It was attended by actors, literature, musicians, singers, archaeologist, dancers and journalists.

Following are the objectives of SAARC

i) To promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to promote their quality of life.

ii)

To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realize their full potentials.

iii)

To promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia.

iv)

To contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems

v)

To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technical and scientific fields.

vi)

To strengthen co-operation with other developing countries. in

vii) To strengthen Co-operation among themselves international forums on matters of common interests;

viii) To co-operate with international and regional organizations with similar aims and purposes ix) to analyze if SAFTA has significantly increased Bangladeshs trade with SAARC countries, to identify the main items Bangladesh cannot export to SAARC countries based on these countries negative lists to identify major barriers of intra-SAARC trade, and

x)

xi)

xii) To provide some recommendations on how to make SAFTA a more effective RTA.

BANGLADESH
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on three sides and Myanmar to the southeast; the Bay of Bengal forms the southern coastline. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal, it comprises the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal"And is written as and pronounced locally: [banglades]. The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown. The borders of Bangladesh were set by the Partition of India in 1947, when it became the eastern wing of Pakistan (East Pakistan), separated from the western wing by 1,600 km (1,000 miles). Despite their common religion, the ethnic and linguistic gulf between the two wings was compounded by an apathetic government based in West Pakistan. This resulted in the independence of Bangladesh in 1971 after a bloody war, supported by India. The years following independence have been marked by political turmoil, with thirteen different heads of government, and at least four military coups. The population of Bangladesh ranks seventh in the world, but its area of approximately 144,000 km2 is ranked ninety-third. It is the third largest Muslim-majority nation, but has a slightly smaller Muslim population than the Muslim minority in India. It is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Geographically dominated by the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, the country has annual monsoon floods, and cyclones are frequent. Bangladesh is one of the founding members of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), BIMSTEC, and a member of the OIC and the D-8.

Geography
Area: 147, 570 sq. km. (55,813 sq. mi.); about the size of Iowa. Cities: Capital--Dhaka (pop. 10 million). Other cities-Chittagong (2.8 million), Khulna (1.8 million), Rajshahi (1 million). Terrain: Mainly flat alluvial plain, with hills in the northeast and southeast. Climate: Semitropical, monsoonal.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Bangladeshi(s). Population (July 2009, CIA est.): 156 million. Annual population growth rate (July 2009, CIA est.): 1.29%. Ethnic groups (1998, CIA): Bengali 98%, other 2% (including tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims). Religions (1998, CIA): Muslim 83%; Hindu 16%; Christian 0.3%, Buddhist 0.6%, others 0.3%. Languages: Bangla (official, also known as Bengali) English.

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Export Control in Bangladesh

Bangladesh emerged as an independent country in 1971. She entered into International Trade actively since 1972. In the early years of independence the gap between Import and Export was very wide. This gap started to decrease from 1980s when Bangladesh adopted liberal trade policy consistent with the emerging trend of the market economy. Extensive reform programs have been implemented in trade regimes during the last two decades. The prime objective of the trade policy of Bangladesh is to strengthen the economy. For achieving this objective Bangladesh has adopted export-based development strategy. As export sector is the main sources of hard-earned foreign currency of Bangladesh, Government has taken all the initiatives for overall development of the sector. 1. Export Policy: For export promotion and development Bangladesh has been pursuing periodic Export Policy from 1980. In the first half of 80s she pursued one- year export policies in the first half of 80s and two-year policies in the last half of the same decades. Since then five- year export policies were formulated and implemented. After the expiry of the tenure of five-year policy government announced three year Export Policy. Ongoing Export Policy is for the period 2003-2009. These policies are consistent with the agreement under Uruguay Round Accord, WTO and the principles of market economy. These are also maintaining favorable balance between exports and imports of the country.

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2. Export basket In the export basket of Bangladesh there are primary commodities and industrial goods. Frozen food, tea, agricultural product, raw jute, etc. are the primary product for export. On the other-hand, readymade garments (Oven garments and knitwear), leather, jute goods, fertilizer, and chemical products, footwear, ceramics product, engineering products, petroleum by-products and handicrafts are the major industrial export goods. 3. Market Share: The major countries to which Bangladesh are exporting are USA, Germany, UK, France, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Canada, and Japan. The USA is the main destination of our export commodities which is 28.79% of the total exports. The second and third positions are held by Germany and UK which constitute 16.76% and 9.96% respectively. The principle items exported to these countries are readymade garments, frozen foods and home textiles. 4. Trend of Export Earnings: The exports of Bangladesh have been experiencing a steady rise since the late 80s of which apparels constitute approximately 75% of the total exports. Other items include frozen foods, jute & jute products, leather & leather products, handicrafts, vegetables, chemical products etc. Major export markets for Bangladeshi exporters are North America (33%) and EU (52%) while other regions constitute the rest. In Fiscal Year 2006-07, total exports earnings of Bangladesh exceeded US$ 12 billion.

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5. Export Control: Rules, Regulation, and Controlling Authority: In Bangladesh all trading activities are regulated by the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of Bangladesh under The Imports and Exports (Control), Act 1950. The Export Policy under the aforementioned Act is issued every three years by the Ministry of Commerce on behalf of the government. However, the Ministry can impose a ban or attach conditions, in the public interest, on an exportable at any time. Moreover, the Ministry of Commerce, through its office of the Chief Controller of Imports & Exports (CCI&E) is also responsible for issuance of Export Registration and/or Permits to the intending exporters. On the other hand, any tariff/tax related issues are determined by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), an entity under the Ministry of Finance. Bangladesh Customs a department of NBR is the enforcement agency of the export Policy.

Export Control: Prohibitions and Restrictions: According to the current Export Policy, 2006-2009, the government has prohibited or imposed conditions on the exports of following products:-

a. Prohibited Products
a. All petroleum and petroleum products except naphtha, furnace oil, lubricant oil and bitumen. b. Jute and `Shan seeds

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c. Wheat d. Any kind of live animal, animal organs or hide/ skin of wild animals. e. Fire arms, ammunition and related materials. f. Radioactive materials. g. Archeological Relics. h. Human skeleton, blood plasma, or any product produced from human or human blood. i. All types of pulses, except processed ones. j. All shrimps except chilled, frozen and processed ones k. Onion l. Seawater shrimps of 71/90 count or smaller, except the species Harin/ harini and Chaka m. Cane, wood, wood logs/ thick pieces of wood (except handicrafts made from these materials). n. All types of frogs (alive or dead) and frog legs. o. Chemical products enlisted in the List 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention. p. Raw and wet blue Leather.

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B. Restricted Products
i) Urea Fertilizer: Upon permission from the Ministry of Industry, Urea fertilizer produced in all factories except Karnafully Fertilizer Company (KAFCO) can be exported. ii) Upon no objection from the Ministry of Information, entertainment programs, music, drama, films, documentary films etc can be exported in the form of audio cassettes, video cassettes, CDs, DVDs etc.

6. Export Control: Bangladesh follows a liberal trade policy in respect of Import and Export. For obvious reasons, export is a priority sector of Bangladesh. Government has taken many measures for export development. There is a handsome incentive package for the exporters. But even export sector is not free from control and monitoring. The Following measures have established necessary control over the export trade in Bangladesh:
a. Licensing the exporters.

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b. Quality inspection of product. c. Physical examination before shipment. d. Security check by using scanning machine at ports e. Constant Intelligence and monitoring by the concerned Government agencies Observing ISPS code by port authority. f. Applications of penal provisions for violation of Rules and Regulations. Installation of heavy-duty scanners in the ports (under construction).
8.

Problems:

Some unscrupulous exporters take the opportunity of liberal trade policy of the Government. They are used to indulge in various corrupt practices like declaring more quantity than actually exported by means of fiddling of shipping documents. Another area of concern resulting in export fraud is the preferential trading arrangements where certain countries enjoy duty benefit subject to compliance of some conditionality related mostly to rules of origin. Other countries which are outside the purview of these preferential arrangements, that is, who fall in the Most Favored Nation (MFN) category, attempt to circumvent the system by means document forgery, falsification of shipment details etc. This leads to export of products of a particular country on papers which is actually produced elsewhere. These sorts of malpractices might deprive the genuine exporters of the country belonging to the preferential trading bloc and put the importers of such products at a risk of penal actions from their authorities. Finally, weak infrastructure and limited capacity to enforce the IPR regulations and rules on standardization by the

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administrations of the developing countries like Bangladesh contribute substantially to protect its consumers from having sub-standard and/or counterfeit products. The authorities often lack adequate facilities to test the standards or originality of the products.

Bangladesh is also facing some problems with exports from China. According to reports of law enforcement agencies goods exported from China to Bangladesh are detected as sub standards, counterfeits and health hazardous in many cases. Milk powder for the babies is the most recent examples.

7. Proposal/Suggestion:
Followings are some recommendations on how we could overcome the hurdles faced by the developing countries in enforcing effective control over exports. a. Maintain Profile of the Exporters b. Systematic Certification process (Rules of origin, quality etc.) c. Introduction of Effective Risk Management techniques for Physical Inspection Effective use of Scanner d. Increase Enforcement Capacity Impart Training e. Increase Cooperation among the Trading Countries through some Mutual Customs Cooperation

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f. Penalize the Exporter for Breaching Rules and Regulation g. Creation of International Consensus and Awareness to Ensure Quality in Export Reduction in import control and gradual decrease in import tariff and not tariff barriers.

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PROBLEMS OF SAARC
Trade Restrictions
There are various trade restrictions that can help to understand why SAFTA has not increased trade as might be desired among its members. First of all, there remain some tariff rates within SAFTA, which are higher than in any other RTAs. Second, there are many non-tariff barriers that are summarized in the following sections. Lack of Trust There is a lack of trust among the SAARC businessmen. While little is known about the reasons for this lack of trust, one reason is that the long period of British colonization has divided sub-continental people in many aspects. The British provided different privileges to some specific groups in South Asia that enforced the ethnic and religious division among the sub-continental people. Another reason that may in some cases be related to the previous one is that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh had fought wars thrice in past fifty years. A possible third reason may be the way India is currently projecting its superiority complexity at the negotiation table of any topic. Whatever the reasons may be, the current lack of trust will need to be overcome if we want to make SAFTA more effective. Lack of Land Connectivity Though two of the SAARC countries are isolated by sea from the other member states but there is no land connectivity among the rest as well. Infrastructure is an essential tool to get engaged into the flow of globalization. Land connectivity makes transporting commodities easier, quicker and economy in cost. But unfortunately

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after twenty years of SAARCs establishment it did not able to make the region connective in land. But all sorts of connectivity e.g. land, air and sea is essential to make efficient business transaction among the nations. So a SAARC high way as well as free air and sea connectivity should be ensured to make SAFTA effective. Transit Crisis It is a serious matter that SAARC countries are still not giving sufficient transit to each other. For example India is giving two hours transit to Bangladesh & Nepal through Bangla Banda land port. It is quit scarce to meet the transportation demands between Bangladesh and Nepal. If India allow this for at least eight hours then Bangladesh export to Nepal can be raised up to thrice than present. So SAARC countries should be freer to offer transit to the nations to increase intra-SAARC trade. Lack of Inter Border Transportation Entrance Inter border transport system is not friendly in practice. For example India is not allowing any Bangladeshi tracks to enter into India with a view of security problem. If India is unable to protect them from a truck how they are ensuring their national security from their enemies. So it is a silly excuse. It should not be. So every SAARC country should open up their border for the tracks of counterpart to carry goods freely. As India is the biggest as well as richest country in the region so they should play the vital role in this regard. Complicated Visa System There is a hard-core visa system practicing by the SAARC countries, it is another major NTB in the region. Especially India is restricting their visas to the

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Bangladeshi people on a daily basis. There are some additional requirements for Bangladeshis to get an Indian visa. Such a discriminatory policy should not be acceptable under SAFTA as it obviously weakens intra regional trade. Political Conflict Despite the fact that many families have relatives across national borders, especially among Bangladesh, India and Pakistan; some families are isolated from each other for political reasons. Indeed, there is a looming a dangerous conflict among many South Asian countries. India is sometimes mistrusted as it plays many times a big brother role in the region. The Kashmir issue is a major obstacle to confidence building between India and Pakistan. At the same time Bangladesh has some disagreements with India with regards to their sea border and some South Western islands. Nepal and Bhutan have some conflict with India with regards to their hydroelectric power generation. Finally, Afghanistan believes that Pakistan is sheltering and supporting Talibans while Pakistan is suspicious about the Afghani government. These political conflicts imply considerable non-tariff barriers in the region and a serious challenge to make SAFTA more effective. Lack of ICT Support Information and communication technology (ICT) make the world smaller and quicker as well. But in South Asia, the ICT infrastructure has not developed as required. None of the South Asian countries is capable to provide all sorts of business support to businessmen in online mode, hampering not only national business but also regional and global trade. So the ICT infrastructure

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should

be

developed

to

promote

SAFTA.

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Long Negative List Another reason for the limited impact of SAFTA may be related to the long negative lists of goods excluded from SAFTA. Under the SAFTA arrangement every member state preserves its right to protect its industry by imposing restrictions to imports of other states products. These lists of restricted products are known as sensitive lists or negative lists and are provided in Appendices 2 to 8. The major products Bangladesh cannot export to other SAARC countries due to these negative lists are woven garments, knitwear, leather goods and foot wear, ceramic products, jute and jute goods, tea, handicrafts, calendars, bicycles, pharmaceutical products, meat, vegetables, and ships. The serious implications these negative lists have on intraSAARC trade is especially clear if looking at South Asias textile industries.

Bilateral Free Trade Agreements (BFTAs) There are some doubts about the seriousness of SAARC countries to make SAFTA effective due to the existence of bilateral FTAs among themselves. India and Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, as well as India and Nepal are doing business with each other under their separate BFTA. Hence, the question arises on what the use of SAFTA is if member countries do not do trade under its umbrella?

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Conclusions and Recommendations

Presently, SAFTA is a bit more than three years in operation and the trade data analyzed reflects solely two years. While two years is a short time to diagnose the effectiveness of such a regional agreement, there is a saying that a red morning sun provides the prediction for a day of sunshine. SAFTA has failed to give us that prediction. First, as was shown, intra-SAARC trade has not increased much since SAFTA has been implemented. Second, there remain considerable tariff and non-tariff barriers within SAFTA. Bangladesh could benefit significantly from facilitating new market accesses if SAFTA would be more effective. If SAFTA is implemented properly, then India would be bound to offer transit to the other member states and Bangladeshi exports to Nepal and Bhutan would increase considerably. Even the Pakistani and Afghan markets would be more easily accessible for Bangladesh. Furthermore, if a deep seaport would be established in Bangladesh, Bangladesh would be able to earn a considerable amount of revenue by providing transit to the regions and countries that are land-locked to the eastern and northern parts of Bangladesh. As a less developed country, Bangladesh is also eligible to get special differential treatment and trade assistance under the SAFTA agreement from the more advanced neighboring countries in the region. The SAFTA initiative could lead into a successful economic union, which is supposed to be the ultimate target. In short, a more effective SAFTA would be a tremendous chance to gain for all SAARC member states.

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Roadmap towards a South Asian Economic Union

Customs
SAARC SAPTA SAFTA

Economic Union

Union

Yet, the above figure also shows that South Asian countries still have to go a long and complicated way before reaching an Economic Union in South Asia. If SAFTA fails to be effective, it will be very difficult to reach an economic union in the near future. Hence, an effective SAFTA should be a priority concern for the SAARC member governments. A united South Asia would be much more effective in tackling any task. The following steps are suggested to make SAFTA more effective. Accelerate the Implementation of All SAFTA

Agreements It is important that all SAFTA agreements are implemented as soon as possible. While the treaty has come into force on January 1, 2006, there are various elements that are supposed to be fully implemented only by December 31, 2015.

Eliminate Tariffs, Para-Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers South Asia continues to suffer from high tariffs, para-tariffs and non-tariff barriers. While it has been argued that some tariffs might be justified to protect the industries especially of the regions least developed countries, the existing tariffs are currently not supporting that argument as they are

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applied across all South Asian countries. If SAARC countries want an effective regional free trade area, all tariffs and trade barriers need to be identified such that the necessary actions can be taken to remove them before the end of 2015. Shorten Negative Lists Presently, some of the major exportable products of South Asian countries are formally excluded from trade among South Asian countries due to long negative lists. If there is a goal to have a free trade area within South Asia, then every country should shorten its negative list as soon as possible. The shortening of the negative lists would also reduce the smuggling of goods currently ongoing across South Asia and the negative effects that come with it. Involve Private Sector Representatives in the Negotiations Presently, all types of trade negotiations are taking place at the governmental level. This applies to the WTO as well as to SAFTA. Business communities, which are the actual actors, are being neglected in this regard. In order to identify the problems more clearly and to solve them efficiently, business communities and private sector representatives should be included in all trade negotiations. Apex business bodies like the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) can help a lot in this process. Form a SAARC Task Force Another suggestion is to form a high-level task force with representatives from each country to identify current problems and that the authority of such a task force would

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need to be preserved to solve the problems without any political or bureaucratic intervention.

Tackle Common Economic and Political Challenges SAARC countries should start with tackling common macroeconomic challenges and adopt a common resource sharing policy. They should also act jointly in the international bodies like the United Nations. A common list of interests should be identified and actions should be taken to achieve them. For example, a common nuclear power generation plant could be established to meet the regional power crisis. Another example would be to form a regional defense body like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to strengthen intra SAARC defense. Establish Regional Fund to Promote Poverty

Reduction Finally, it would be useful to establish a SAARC Fund to promote capacity building in the regional LDCs that have high levels of poverty and face natural disasters to ensure the provision of food for the South Asian people. Such a fund could also include the provision of resources for the traderelated infrastructure development.

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From SAARC to SAPTA

At the beginning of its journey, SAARC focused its work mostly in soft areas like health, population, cultural exchange, and sports. In the fourth SAARC Summit in Islamabad, held on 29-31 December 1988, the Heads of States were passed a study report on the cooperation in the areas of trade, manufactures and services. The recommendations of that study led SAARC leaders to think about a preferential trade arrangement within SAARC. A consultant was commissioned to carry out a study on Trade, Manufacture and Services (TMS) in the SAARC region. According to the consultants recommendations three years later in 1991, further initiatives were taken towards a preferential trade arrangement at the sixth SAARC summit in Colombo on December 21, 1991. It was recognized that a specific agreement on an institutional framework is needed under which specific measures for trade liberalization among SAARC Member States can be taken. At the seventh SAARC summit in Dhaka, held from April 10-11 1993, the Heads of States of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, the Kingdom of Bhutan, the Republic of India, the Republic of Maldives, the Kingdom of Nepal, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka agreed to establish the SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) to promote and sustain mutual trade and the economic cooperation among them.3 In the eighth SAARC summit held in New Delhi on 2-4 May 1995, the SAPTA agreement was discussed in depth. Importance was given to technical meetings and the

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finalization of all necessary modalities so that SAPTA could start its journey by the end of 1995. Indeed, SAPTA entered into force on the 7th of December 1995.

The main objectives of SAPTA were to promote trade relations among the member states and to identify and remove trade barriers. SAPTA worked with four main tasks: tariff, para-tariff, non-tariff, and direct trade measures. While SAPTA adopted four major negotiation approaches (on product by product basis, across the board tariff reductions, sector wise, and direct trade measures), all leaders agreed that the main negotiations should be undertaken on a product-by-product basis. They also agreed that tariff, para-tariff and non-tariff barriers will be identified step by step and removed successively and gradually. The agreement also includes special attention for the less developed countries (LDCs) in Article 10. It was agreed that the products covered under the agreement must satisfy the rules of origin in order to be given preferential treatment. The purpose of the rules of origin is to ensure that the benefits of tariff concessions exchanged under SAPTA are given only to products originating in Contracting States. SAPTA also stipulated that any facility under this agreement must be active for the subsequent three years that no change should be made before three years unless any facility would cause a serious injury to the contracting states. Revisions were also possible after discussing the matter with all contracting states and after the initial three years.

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Conclusion
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries have common features, such as geographic and climatic conditions, and share issues concerning the socioeconomic, cultural, and educational advancement of their people. Higher education affects every area of national development and deserves requisite attention. This paper assesses higher education systems of SAARC countries in terms of structure, access, quality, equity, resources, and contribution of private enterprise. Such an assessment might help in promoting interstate cooperation and planning better strategies.

Bangladesh began as East Pakistan, formed by the partition of the British Territory of India in 1947. It was one of five provinces into which Pakistan was divided at the time of its creation. East Pakistan was formed by adding the Sylhet district of Assam to the former province of East Bengal. Bangladesh achieved independence from Pakistan in 1971 and was renamed the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. It has a population of over 150 million, of which about 43 percent are literate (Manorama Yearbook, 2008, p 307). The literacy rate for women is 36 percent. About 83 percent of the people are Muslims and 16 percent are Hindus. It is the secondlargest Muslim country of the world.

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Bibliography www.wikipedia.com www.bangladeshtariffs.com www.wikipedia/saarc.com www.google/bangladesh.com

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TOPIC NAME:

BANGLADESH AS A MEMBER COUNTRY OF SAARC

SUBMITTED BY:-

SUBMITTED TO:-

2012-2013

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Index
1. Introduction 2. Historical background 3. Establishment of SAARC 4. Principles of SAARC 5. Meaning 6. Needs 7. Objectives 8. Bangladesh 9. Geography & People 10. Export control in Bangladesh 11. Restriction and prohibition 12. Problems 13. Proposal and suggestions 14. Conclusion 15. Bibliography