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India cut the number of
items on its
"sensitive" list of goods that are banned from trading in South
Asia after leaders from the region pledged last week to cut barriers
to spur growth.
India lifted the ban on
trading in 264
items and pruned the list to 480 commodities, India's Science and
Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said after a recent cabinet meeting
in New Delhi. He didn't give any details.
"This is in pursuance of
India's
announcement during the SAARC summit regarding its readiness to
accept asymmetrical responsibilities including opening her markets to
her South Asian neighbours without insisting on reciprocity," Sibal
said.
India, South Asia's biggest
economy,
and seven other nations including Pakistan and Sri Lanka, last week
vowed to cut trade barriers to accelerate growth, underscoring the
importance of regional groupings after the collapse of WTO talks.
Trade obstructions have made South Asia, where a quarter of the
world's population lives, contribute less than 2% to global
commerce.
The grouping, called the
South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, which also includes
Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan, are trying to
give a boost to the free trade pact that they adopted in 2004.
Trade between SAARC members
is less
than 5% of the countries' total, according to the FICCI. By
comparison, trade among the 10 members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations accounts for 30% of their total while
intra-European Union commerce is about 55%. (Source: Bloomberg)
August 13, 2008
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