MALE, Maldives — Seven South Asian nations, set out to revitalize their 12-year-old regional bloc.

In recent years, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has focused on lowering regional trade barriers as a means of spurring cross-border commerce. But trade among the the seven member states — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — accounts for only three percent of their total trade.

In meetings over the weekend among SAARC foreign ministers, who prepared the agenda for their leaders’ three-day meeting starting on Monday, pledged to begin focusing on across-the-board market liberalization rather than industry-specific moves that have dominated past agendas.

They agreed that a free-trade zone should be created in the shortest possible time. The organization had previously agreed to set up the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) by no later than 2005.

SAARC member states have a combined population of 1.2 billion, about a fifth of the world’s total, but account for 40 percent of those living in poverty.

© 5/12/ 1997 Reuters