U.S. encourages SAARC but hesitant to get more involved
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States encouraged the participating nations of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, also known as SAARC, but Washington had no intentions to increase its own involvement with the association according to one of the top U.S. diplomats.
Addressing journalists at a special briefing at the State Department, Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs said, “We’re an observer country and we welcome that role, but we’re not seeking to enhance our role in any way.”
Assistant Secretary Blake returned from a trip to the Maldives as head of the U.S. observer delegation to the 17th Summit of the SAARC which has eight member nations and nine observers.
The U.S., however, urged the participating South Asian nations to not only cement ties among themselves but also to enlarge cooperation with Central Asian countries to accelerate the building of a New Silk Road.
Assistant Secretary Blake said, “I explained our support for greater regional integration not only within South Asia, but between South and Central Asia and Secretary Clinton’s vision of a New Silk Road linking the economies of South and Central Asia in a web of trade, transit, and energy connections.”
“The SAARC states hope to implement a South Asia free trade agreement by 2016, and there was some progress that was announced during the recent summit,” said Blake, lamenting the fact that the SAARC members were “not ready to endorse proposals to move up the date for SAFTA implementation.”
The SAARC leaders agreed “to finalize a regional railways agreement in the next year and to create an Indian Ocean cargo and ferry service by 2012,” said Assistant Secretary Blake.
The U.S. has enjoyed observer nation status since 2007 in SAARC, which groups Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
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Russia signs trade agreements with 7 ex-Soviet nations
Moscow, Russian Federation (AHN) – In an attempt to boost economic ties with Community of Independent States (CIS) nations, Russia on Tuesday inked free-trade agreements with Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan.
The announcement, which came after talks in St Petersburg, said that the agreement would cancel import-export duties on a number of goods without revealing the type of goods.
Other three former Soviet Republic states – Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan – are likely to join the trade deal by yearend.
The parliaments of these eight countries need to ratify the agreement before it becomes effective in 2012.
While Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described the move as more competitive, analysts believe that it was particularly aimed at attracting pro-Russian Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, who had previously sought trade ties with the 27-nation EU bloc. Putin admitted that the much-awaited deal with Ukraine is significant to his country.
The Yanukovych government sent Ukraine’s ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko to seven years imprisonment for misusing her powers over a 2009 gas deal, a development described by the EU as politically motivated.
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