2000 items on free import list

NEW DELHI, August 6: Vegetables, fruits, tea, meat, coffee, spices and other processed foods are among the 2000 items that will now be freely importable from countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC 8212; Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

In a notification today, the Government formalised the announcement of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, at the recent SAARC summit, removing all import restrictions on these items under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GATT on balance of payments grounds. However, import curbs on items restricted on non-BoP grounds will continue.