Following the postponement of the 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, the SAARC Secretariat has also put off the expert-level meeting on the South Asian Free Trade agreement (SAFTA) slated for Feb. 26-28 in the Maldives.

"The meeting has been postponed for the time being and will be rescheduled shortly," an official at the Kathmandu-based SAARC Secretariat told reporters on Sunday.

The seventh SAFTA meeting was put off after the secretariat formally notified member states, the official said, refusing to elaborate on the reasons for its postponement.

However, according to reports which quoted Pakistani officials, the meeting was "canceled" after Pakistan informed the SAARC Secretariat that it will not be able to send any experts of its SAFTA team to attend the meeting, because they will be busy during the scheduled dates.

The postponement of the SAFTA experts' meeting might create hurdles in reaching an agreement within a stipulated timeframe because the experts have to settle various issues on SAFTA before May 31 to provide SAARC members enough time to resolve contentious issues.

Source: Xinhua