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Our Bureau

New Delhi , April 2

AGRICULTURE, non-agricultural market access, and services would be the three pillars on which SAARC nations need to put their heads together for a unified stance at the Hong Kong Ministerial and facilitate South Asia's ability to forge common positions in the WTO.

Mr Gopal K. Pillai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, said this at a session on `Roadmap for Hong Kong Ministerial - Strategy for SAARC Countries at the Regional Workshop on Understanding WTO Instruments - Implications for SAARC Countries' organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and the SAARC Chamber.

Mr Pillai said that in the coming months, developing countries, including SAARC member-nations would come under pressure to attain common positions on the unresolved WTO issues.

In this context, he suggested intensification of technical work and emphasised the need to stay together as a group to reap negotiating advantages.

He concurred with Mr Nasim Qureshi, Joint Secretary in the Pakistan Prime Minister's Office, that the business communities of SAARC countries would have to determine their priorities and ask their national governments to take positions and negotiate on their behalf.

Mr Pillai described as `artificial' the self-imposed deadlines for arriving at common positions on the contentious issues and called for circumspection in advancing their interests.

The meeting was also addressed by Mr Toufiq Ali, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the WTO, Dr Roop Jyoti, Member of Parliament, Nepal, and Mr Sagala Ratnayake, Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka.

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