India’s Trade Experience with SAARC and the Future of SAFTA

Abstract

ndia is also committed to ensure that the special and differential treatment provisions for developing countries under different WTO agreements are translated into specific enforceable dispensations. Currently, India has adopted WTO norms in these sectors i.e. Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Intellectual property and services. SAARC is moving towards a Free Trade Area and South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) that is an initial step in the evolution of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation as a regional trade block and an economic union. SAFTA was signed on January 6, 2004, during the Twelfth SAARC Summit in Islamabad. But how favorably it will affect the intra-regional trade it is uncertain as economic trouble for India could be created through the Free Trade Agreements. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to depict India’s foreign trade with SAARC nations considering the structural changes in Indian Economy as well as WTO Arrangements in 1995 and also the future of the SAFTA.