The two-day fourth official level meeting of the seven nation South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement (SAPTA) that was to begin in the capital Monday has been indefinitely postponed on Pakistani request, diplomats said.
Pakistan told SAARC headquarters of its inability to participate in the meeting Friday, the diplomat said. Countries of South Asia, including India and Pakistan, have been unsuccessfully negotiating for years to launch a preferential trading area in the region.
Pakistan is wary of India trade domination in the area. Similar trade meetings had been postponed in the past. The meeting was postponed after the August 21/22 meeting of regional foreign ministers in Kathmandu.
Indo-Pak differences are stalling progress in South Asian regional cooperation.