Seven South Asian nations, including rivals India and Pakistan, Friday began a two-day meet in Kathmandu to prepare a draft for a South Asian Free Trade Agreement for the region by the year 2010, conference sources said.

This is the third meeting of its kind. The meeting will prepare a draft report on the agreement to be

presented to a summit of the regional conference scheduled to be held in Rawalpindi January next year.

India accuses Pakistan of stalling the formation of a free trade regime for the area.