November 16, 2007	Friday	Ziqa’ad 05, 1428

DHAKA, Nov 15: Bangladesh will house the Saarc standards body in Dhaka for institutionalising the process of standardisation of various goods to be traded among the eight-member South Asian bloc, reports a Dhaka based English language daily on Thursday.

The decision was made at the third meeting of the Saarc Standards Coordination Board in Kathmandu on November 1–2, where Nepal withdrew its candidature for housing the institution, the newspaper, New Age, said quoting industries ministry officials of Bangladesh.

Earlier in April, Pakistan withdrew its name as an aspirant host of the regional standards body in favour of Bangladesh. At that meeting in Dhaka, Nepal also hinted at its withdrawal from the race.

The Kathmandu meeting decided to name the regional standards body as South Asian Regional Standards Organisation.

The Saarc Standards Coordination Board was formed in 2006 to harmonise the various standards followed by the South Asian countries.

The board has already agreed to make a list of 30 to 50 ‘potential’ items for regional trade for harmonising their standards.