In line with trends in the other economies, South Asia has been actively engaged in trade liberalization during the past decade, both on a unilateral and a regional basis. On the regional side, the economies of South Asia have sought to promote intraregional trade as a group, in addition to pursuing agreements with economies outside the region (for example, India's interest in a possible Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN)+6 arrangement, and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) promoting trade cooperation among South Asia and South-East Asia as well as with larger economies of Asia such as Japan). The most comprehensive South Asian regional agreement is the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). This framework agreement, signed in 2004, is an extension of the earlier SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) established in 1995. It brings together Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and requires a phase-out of all duties by 2012 for the developing economies and by 2016 for the least developed economies.

(MARKHUB publication)