South Asian Regional Trade Agreements

The most controversial and the most recently discussed matter between the country’s professionals and the government of Sri Lanka is the ETCA agreement, which will be signed with INDIA. As per the government sources the framework of this agreement will be signed in the December, 2016. Amidst the situation that a proper draft has not been issued to the public, many do concern about the conditions and the sentences which may include in the agreement.

This paper aims at presenting a survey of the literature on desirability, feasibility and implementation of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) amongst SAARC Nations. It begins by defining preferential trade Agreements as per World Trade Organization (WTO), thereafter moving on to its interpretation as per various literature on the subject. Next section identifies the benefits from such arrangements. Further against the backdrop of identified factors as prerequisites for a Successful Preferential Trade Arrangement, paper presents both optimistic and pessimistic predictions relating to South Asian Free Trade Agreement(SAFTA) before arriving at a conclusion.