SAARC — From Association to Community: a Small Country Economic Perspective
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Date
1999
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Abstract
This essay has given a small country perspective of SAFTA and a more advanced
level of economic cooperation in the region. The essay identified four
broad areas as major areas of concern for a small member country: (a) political
commitment; (b) market access; (c) safeguarding domestic producers; and (c~
trade and investment supporting policies. The concerns in these areas have to be
effectively addressed in order to reap the benefits of a PTA or FTA. At present,
the domestic policy support for SAFTA remains lukewarm. As long as this is
the case, initiatives by the political establishment for regional cooperation will
continue to be ambiguous, sporadic, and fragmented, leading to a ’stop and go’
pattern of regional cooperation in SAARC. In such patterns of cooperation,
SAARC growth in terms of regional institutional development and programme
implementation will remain uncertain, and the organisation’s life cycle will oscillate
between short-lived euphoria and agonisingly protracted stalemates.
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Keywords
SAARC, Trade, SAFTA