The South Asia Free Trade Agreement is an agreement reached at the 12th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit at Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on 6 January 2004. It creates a framework for the creation of a free trade zone covering 1.4 billion people in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives.The seven foreign ministers of the region signed a framework agreement on SAFTA with zero customs duty on the trade of practically all products in the region by end 2012. The SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA), with concessional duty on sub-continent trade, will transform into SAFTA two years from now, that is beginning of 2006. The new agreement will be operational following the ratification of the agreement by the seven governments. SAFTA requires the developing countries in South Asia, that is, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to bring their duties down to 20 percent in the first phase of the two year period ending in 2007. In the final five year phase ending 2012, the 20 percent duty will be reduced to zero in a series of annual cuts. (The least developing country group in South Asia consisting of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives, get an additional three years to reach zero duty, that is, they have time till 2017.) The South Asian Association for Regional Co-Operation, or SAARC, (established December 8, 1985) is an association of 7 countries of South Asia namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. ... Faisal Mosque, located in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, was built in 1986. ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Free trade zones, also called free trade areas or export processing zones, designate either parts of a country or groups of countries that have agreed to eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on most goods between them. ... 2012 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2017 is a Common year starting on Sunday. ...

See also

• Free Trade
• Trade barrier
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• List of international trade topics
• Anti-globalization
• Agricultural subsidies

Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... Barriers to international trade can take many forms, including: import duties import licenses export licenses import taxes tariffs agricultural subsidies non-tariff barriers However, most trade barriers all work on the same principle: the imposition of some sort of cost on trade that raises the price of the traded products. ... The North American Free Trade Agreement, known usually as NAFTA, is a comprehensive trade agreement linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico in a free trade sphere. ... International trade - an overview Absolute advantage Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights APEC Autarky Balance of trade barter Bimetallism Bretton Woods system British timber trade Cash crop Comparative advantage Continental trading bloc Cost, insurance and freight Currency Customs union CAFTA CEFTA David Ricardo European Union Exchange rate... Anti-WEF grafiti in Lausanne. ... Subsidies status Currently, economic studies place the average farmer subsidy at US$17,000/year for European farmers, and US$16,000/year for U.S. farmers. ...

External links

• South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (http://www.saarc-sec.org/main.php)
• South Asian Free Trade Area (http://www.saarc-sec.org/main.php?t=2.1.6)
• SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (http://www.saarc-sec.org/main.php?t=2.1.5)