Fourth BIMSTEC Trade/Economic Ministerial Meeting
7th March, 2003 Colombo, Sri Lanka

Agreed Conclusions


1. The BIMSTEC Trade/Economic Ministers met in Colombo on 7th March, 2003 and reviewed the progress made by BIMSTEC countries in trade and economic cooperation, since the last Ministerial meeting held in Yangon, Myanmar in February 2001. The meeting was attended by Trade/Economic Ministers from the People's Republic of Bangladesh, The Republic of India, the Union of Myanmar, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and the Kingdom of Thailand. The Minister of Trade representing the Government of Nepal attended the meeting as an observer. A representative from the ESCAP also attended the meeting as an invitee. List of participants is annexed (Annex 1).

Trade/Economic Ministers of the BIMSTEC highlighted the importance of convening Ministerial level meetings on a regular basis in order to take stock of developments in the global economy and to review trade and economic cooperation in the BIMSTEC.

2. Hon. Karu Jayasuria, the Minister of Power and Energy of Sri Lanka while inaugurating the meeting highlighted the fact that the meeting in Colombo had provided an opportunity for the BIMSTEC member countries to demonstrate their political will and commitment by deciding to accelerate the process of concluding the proposed BIMSTEC Free Trade Area.

3. Hon. Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Commerce & Consumer Affairs of Sri Lanka was elected to chair the BIMSTEC Trade/Economic Ministers meeting by acclamation.

4. Mr. Deeptha Kulatilleke of Sri Lanka functioned as the Rapporteur.

5. The Trade/Economic Ministers considered the 3rd BIMSTEC Senior Trade/Economic Officials meeting (STEOM) report, which was held on 6th March 2003 in Colombo. The report of the STEOM is attached (Annex II).

6. The Ministers also noted the reports of the BIMSTEC Business Forum and the Economic Forum held in December 2002 in Colombo and expressed their satisfaction over the emerging public/private sector linkages in regard to trade and economic cooperation in the BIMSTEC. They underlined the need for promoting greater private sector participation in the realization of the BIMSTEC trade and economic cooperation agenda.

7. The Ministers recognized the need for greater coordination of their position at multilateral fora such as WTO with a view to protecting and projecting common interests of BIMSTEC countries and suggested regular meetings of their Permanent Representatives based in Geneva towards this end.

8. The Ministers also directed that the lead country responsible for the sector on trade and investment should in consultation with the member countries workout modalities of establishing collaborative links with other regional organizations such as SAARC & ASEAN with regard to trade and investment promotion.

9. The Ministers appreciated the initiatives of the BIMSTEC Business Forum to establish a BIMSTEC Chamber of Commerce and to organize a business convention and trade fair in Sri Lanka in 2003. They expressed the hope that similar events would be organized in other member countries.

10. The Ministers noted the proposal by Sri Lanka to establish business councils in the BIMSTEC member countries with a view to further strengthening the cooperation among the business community in the BIMSTEC.

11. The Ministers appreciated the report of the Group of Experts on possible approaches towards the proposed BIMSTEC Free Trade Area.

12. The Ministers agreed to establish a Group of Experts (GOE) chaired by Sri Lanka to start working on a Framework Agreement of the BIMSTEC Free Trade Area bearing in mind that the first BIMSTEC Summit is to be held in Thailand in 2004.

13. In this regard the ministers recognized that some members may have greater difficulties to adjust and they needed to be assured of their fair share of benefits from this FTA. In this connection it was agreed that a formal request would be made to the ESCAP Secretariat to conduct a study on identifying steps to be taken for expansion of trade of LDCs in the region in parallel to the work of the COE.

14. The Ministers agreed that the member countries would provide necessary inputs for the Framework Agreement by the end of April 2003.

15. The Ministers agreed with STEOM recommendation that priority should be given to trade and economic cooperation in the BIMSTEC in the process of strengthening the Working Group in Bangkok (WGB). The Ministers emphasized the importance of a Permanent Secretariat for enhanced trade and economic cooperation in the BIMSTEC and took note of the decision of the fifth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in this regard.

16. The Ministers appreciated the participation of a representative from the ESCAP at the Ministerial meeting and expressed that BIMSTEC should continue to maintain a closer dialogue and collaboration with the ESCAP.

17. The Ministers recognized the importance of facilitating the issuance of visas on entry to businessmen of BIMSTEC member countries.

18. With regard to exchange of information among the BIMSTEC member countries the Ministers directed that a common format be prepared by the lead country responsible for the sector of Trade and Investment.

19. The Ministers welcomed the offer to Thailand to host the 5th BIMSTEC Trade/Economic Ministers meeting in February 2004.

20. The Ministers expressed their appreciation for the excellent arrangements made by Sri Lanka for the 4th BIMSTEC Trade/Economic Ministerial Meeting in Colombo.


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SECOND MEETING OF THE BIMST-EC TRADE/ECONOMIC
MINISTERS


NEW Delhi, 27th April 2000
AGREED CONCLUSIONS


The Ministers met in New Delhi to review the progress on the initiatives agreed to in their first meeting in Bangkok, to take stock of recent development in the global economic system, and to decide the action agenda for economic cooperation.


The Ministers took note of the recommendations of the Senior Trade/Economic Officials Meeting (STEOM) which had met 26th April, 2000. The report of STEOM is annexed. The Ministers accepted the recommendations of STEOM on the action agenda for economic co-operation and decided as follows:

The countries affected by the global financial crisis were now well on the road to recovery. It was important to push ahead the momentum of recovery through close economic cooperation between the Member Countries by taking advantage of the complimentarities that existed, The action agenda formulated by the STEOM should be implemented by all countries effectively and within agreed timeframes. The private sector in the Member Countries should be closely involved in the implementation of the action agenda.

The rapid changes in the global economic environment driven by technological developments and deregulation and often adversely impacting on fragile economies necessitated close cooperation and frequent consultations to facilitate appropriate responses and policy changes. It was agreed that the Ministers would hold regular consultations on various issues in the multilateral agenda, especially in the WTO.

The Ministers stressed the importance of establishing a clear work programme to implement the shared vision for a Free Trade Arrangement in BIMST -EC region. The Ministers decided to constitute an Inter-Government Group consisting of Officials dealing with international trade to prepare a concept paper on possible approaches towards a Preferential Trading Arrangement leading to a Free Trade Area on the basis of inputs form all Member Countries within a period of 6 months for consideration of the Ministers.

Transport and communication issues are critical to the development of economic cooperation in the region. A cohesive and well coordinated approach to these issues is essential to ensure early implementation of the agreed projects. It was agreed that India would be the lead country for this sector and would convene a meeting of Experts to examine the feasibility as well as the funding options for early implementation of the BIMST -EC component of the Southern Corridors of the Trans Asian Railways and Asian Highways Projects.

Intellectual Property Rights are a major area of concern for developing countries. The Ministers emphasised the need for joint initiatives on the basis of the Phuket Action Agenda and the New Delhi Action Plan to intensify cooperation between the Member Countries and to enable sharing of experiences. Issues such as protection of indigenous knowledge and bio-diversity should be especially addressed in such initiatives. If necessary, such initiatives could be taken up in collaboration with WIPO.

Electronic commerce is another area at the forefront of technological change in international business. It is important that Member Countries keep abreast with developments in this area. It was agreed that India would be the focal point for possible initiatives it this area including the launch of E-BIMSTEC. India will prepare a concept note identifying the issues and potential for cooperation between Member Countries.

The view of the majority was that the existing Ministerial meetings could be combined with the meetings of the Trade/Economic Ministers and held once a year. It was agreed to hold further consultations in this regard.
It was decided that future meetings would be held on a rotational basis alphabetically, with the next meeting to be held in February-March 2001 in Myanmar or Sri Lanka.


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