News List | South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation

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News List

Compiled features on recent developments in regional cooperation and integration in the SASEC region.

Year:
June 2018 SARSO Sets Regulatory Standards for Biscuits, Refined Sugar, and Milk Products Member nations of SAARC have agreed on common standards for biscuits, refined sugar, and milk products. The South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) has set regulatory standards for these three products, including requirements related to packaging, marking, labeling, and sampling of biscuits and refined sugar, as well as production, processing, and handling of milk and milk products. Read More Tags: SARSO, SAARC, Harmonization, Trade, Standards Harmonization
March 2018 SAARC Member Countries Pledge to Set a Common Standard for Chemicals and Chemical Products SAARC held a meeting on 26-27 March 2018 to discuss development of regional standards for chemicals and chemical products. Participants expressed a commitment to develop a common standard for the region and remove standards-related barriers hindering growth of trade among SAARC countries. Read More Tags: Standards Harmonization, SAARC, SARSO
July 2017 Commentary: Standards Need Continuous Updating This commentary by Ms. Ferdaus Ara Begum, Chief Executive Officer, Business Initiative Leading Development, highlights the need to improve standards regulation to increase Bangladesh's competitiveness in the export-based manufacturing industry. Recommendations include raising capacity of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute to meet global standards in food safety, and involving the private sector in standard setting consultations. Read More Tags: Bangladesh, India, Standards Harmonization, Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary, Technical Barriers to Trade, SARSO
March 2017 Three Common Standards for SAARC Finalized Three common standards—Biscuits Specification, Refined Sugar Specification, and Code of Hygienic Practice for Dairy Industry—for the SAARC region were approved at the South Asian Regional Standards Organization's (SARSO) Fifth Governing Body Meeting. These common standards will help reduce SAARC intra-regional trade costs. According to SARSO Director General, Dr. Syed Humayun Kabir, member countries' national standardization bodies will be in charge of their implementation. Read More Tags: SAARC, SARSO, Bangladesh, Standards Harmonization
May 2016 SARSO Conducts Workshop on Harmonizing Standards in Bhutan A workshop on harmonizing standards in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region was held by the South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO) in Bhutan. Mr. Tashi Wangchuk, Deputy Director, SARSO, emphasized the importance of Bhutan Standards Bureau's technical committees participating in SARSO's Sectoral Technical Committees. Read More Tags: SARSO, Bhutan, Standards Harmonization, Trade Facilitation, SAARC
January 2016 SARSO Agrees Standards on 6 Products A set of regionally agreed standards for 6 products, including sugar and cotton, in South Asia has been finalized by the South Asian Regional Standards Organization (SARSO), in response to the need to ease regional trade by harmonizing standards on key goods. SARSO aims to complete issuing formal notifications on these 6 products by March, to will allow goods marked 'compliant' to SARSO's standard and testing regulations to be exported to any SAARC county without need for laboratory testing. Read More Tags: Standards Harmonization, Trade Facilitation, SAARC, SARSO, Sri Lanka