The leaders of South Asian countries here on Wednesday expressed commitment to ensuring effective market access through smooth implementation of trade liberalization program in a collective effort to alleviate poverty.

In a declaration issued at the end of their 14th summit meeting, the leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) stressed that SAFTA should be implemented in letter and spirit as successful implementation of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) will catalyze other areas of regional cooperation. SAFTA entered into force from January 1, 2006.

In order to realize its full potential, SAFTA should integrate trade in services and the leaders called for a finalization of an agreement in the services sector at the earliest.

A recent study by the World Bank has shown that South Asia is the least integrated region in the world. Intra-regional trade is less than 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to more than 20 percent for East Asia. Annual trade between India and Pakistan, the bulk of which is routed through Dubai, is currently estimated at one billion U.S. dollars, but could be as great as 9 billion dollars, the Bank estimated.

In addition, cross-border investments, and the flow of ideas, crudely measured by the cross-border movement of people or the number of telephone calls, are low for South Asia, according to the World Bank.

The leaders underlined the importance of implementing trade facilitation measures, especially standardization of basic customsnomenclature, documentation and clearing procedures. They also noted that harmonization of technical and phyto-sanitary standards and their implementation in a trade-friendly manner is important in boosting regional trade.

It takes on average more than 33 days to export from South Asia compared to 12 days from OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) which has 30 members as far flung as Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the United States, Australia, Canada and most European countries. It takes more than 46 days to import into South Asia compared to 14 days for the OECD countries, according to the World Bank.

The World Bank said on Monday that there was potential for 20 billion dollars commerce by 2010 if barriers were reduced in the South Asian bloc, which groups Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Singh announced Tuesday in his address at the inaugural session of the summit meeting that India will allow duty free access to India before the end of this year to its South Asian neighbors who are Least Developed Countries (LDC) and further reduce the sensitive list in respect of these countries.

The leaders also emphasized the need to develop, at an early date, a roadmap for a South Asian Customs Union and a South Asian Economic Union in a planned and phased manner.

SAARC is the largest regional cooperation with a population of 1.47 billion which accounts for 22 percent of the world population. However, the combined gross domestic product of the SAARC countries is 932 billion U.S. dollars, which accounts for only 2 percent of the world's GDP.