SAARC is likely to miss yet another deadline to finalise the draft treaty framework on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) as the sixth round of negotiations on establishing the regional free trade ended inconclusively Monday, the Kathmandu Post said.

A joint-secretary-level Committee of Experts was required to finalise the SAFTA treaty framework prior to the forthcoming SAARC Summit to be held in Pakistan, the daily said.

The meeting failed after the developing member nations declined to pledge special preferential treatment to member LDCs (Least Developed Countries), the daily said, quoting government sources.

“Throughout the discussion, the LDC members asked the developed countries not to impose any antidumping and safeguarding measures on any of their products, and not to enlist their products in the negative list.”

It is now up to the standing committee and the ministerial council to decide what and how the spirit of establishing regional free trade area is to proceed, the daily said quoting the unnamed source.