The meeting of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Trade Facilitation Working Group (TFWG) was held on 2-3 December, 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Bhutanese delegation was led by the Director, Department of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment. The Bhutan delegation comprised of representatives from the Department of Economic and Tech Diplomacy (DETD), Department of Revenue and Customs (DRC), Department of Macro-Fiscal and Development Finance (DMDF), Department of Trade (DoTr), and Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MoIT). The meeting was attended by more than 50 delegates from the SASEC member countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar (virtually), Nepal and Sri Lanka, along with officials from the Asian Development Bank, and the SASEC Secretariat.
The meeting agenda covered a wide range of important topics related to the implementation of trade facilitation measures, such as deliberation and endorsement of the SASEC Strategy 2035, Ecosystem development for food trade, food safety and security, Action Plan on SASEC Initiatives (APSI) 2025-2027, and report on 13 SASEC Customs Sub-group Meeting among others. The TFWG also had a combined session with the Transport Working Group on December 2, 2025, focusing on issues related to the Highly Facilitated Trade Corridor, developing a comprehensive border point ecosystem and improving connectivity within the SASEC area. A simultaneous Knowledge Workshop on Ecosystem and Value Chain Approach on Food Security, Food Safety, and Food Trade was held on 2-3 December 2025 which was attended by the Bhutan Food and Drug Authority, Department of Agricultural Marketing and Cooperatives, DoTr and the Ministry of Finance.
The SASEC TFWG is dedicated to promoting regional cooperation, integration and facilitating smoother cross-border trade among the SASEC member countries in line with global standards and practices. The outcomes of the meeting complemented the ongoing initiatives to meet the overall objective of promoting regional prosperity, improving economic opportunities and building a better quality of life for the people of the subregion.
