Analysis of South Asian Free Trade Agreement: Focus on Food Safety

Abstract

The South Asian Free Trade Agreement, at time of inception, encompassed some of the world's least liberalized economies. These economies were well positioned to experience gains from a multilateral agreement. In this paper, we critically analyze the structure, effectiveness and impact of the agreement in terms of not only trade, but also food safety and other issues of interest specific to the participating countries in the context of the agreement. The results of the analysis suggest underperformance in terms of both trade and food safety. To better understand some of the regional specific challenges present in the food safety environment in the region, the paper also examines the status of the Indian carabeef industry.https://doi.org/10.21423/jrs-v06n02p018 (DOI assigned 1/24/2019)