Trade officials from seven South and Southeast Asian countries are convening here Wednesday for the 10th Bay of Bengal Initiatives for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Trade Negotiation Committee (TNC) meeting to finalize a free trade accord on trade goods.

The one-week TNC meeting will also see officials start negotiations on a free trade area (FTA) accord on service trade and investment, a senior government official told reporters here Wednesday.

So far, the TNC has been negotiating on provisions related to trade in goods only, as enforcement of FTA on trade in goods has been agreed from July 2006, a year earlier than the date of enforcement of FTA on trade in services, the official said on condition of anonymity.

"As a number of issues on commodity trade remain unsettled, negotiations on it will continue. We will also start negotiations on rules for service trade and investment," the official said.

The 10th TNC will mainly focus on slashing the negative list items to 20 percent of the total items traded in the region. It will also discuss issues such as trade facilitation and customs cooperation, according to the official.

In the FTA on trade in goods, the member states have agreed to open trade under the "fast track" and "normal track" of trade liberalization.

Under the fast track of liberalization, the member states are required to slash tariffs directly in a range of zero to 5 percentas agreed upon, while in the normal track, they will follow a gradual tariff liberalization program.

BIMSTEC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Nepal and Bhutan joined this sub-regional group in February 2004.

Source: Xinhua