In the declaration of the sixth SAARC summit in December in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Member States assessed current international developments in the political field, particularly those that have affected the lives of people in South Asia. They noted the evolution of power structures in international relations and the reduction of confrontations and tensions, particularly between the United States and the USSR. These have helped to reduce the risk of nuclear confrontation and agreements on disarmament measures. Member States hoped that these developments would limit the search for military power in all regions of the world and expressed the hope that the peace dividend would be used to promote the development of developing countries. They welcomed the trend towards democratic governments close to the people in different parts of the world, including South Asia. The economies of South Asia, including Bangladesh, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to regional trade and, in addition to regional agreements such as the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA), have the bilateral objective Freihandelsabkommen.DE SAFTA and other bilateral agreements to reduce tariffs, encourage cross-border investment and, more importantly, formalize unofficial trade that takes place through third countries and channels. In the statement of the seventh SAARC summit in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in April, Member States noted a number of positive developments in the field of nuclear, chemical and conventional disarmament, including the bilateral arms reduction agreements between the United States and Russia. They expressed the hope that the large-scale arms reduction, signed in Moscow in June 1992 and in January 1993 in Moscow, would be carried out. Member States called on all NWS to work together to achieve the ultimate goal of total elimination of nuclear arsenals as soon as possible. „The country should first get the much-needed comparative advantage before concluding bilateral free trade agreements, particularly with countries with huge export capacities at competitive prices,“ the economists say.