AgMark is an acronym for Agricultural Marketing. This organization used to certify the food products for their quality. This has been superceded or dominated by other quality standards including the non manufacturing standard ISO 9000. Food and Drug Administration FDA also approves certain quality standards for food items. There is no specific mark on this item.

We in India lack many things, which we deserve. One classic example is the certification process for food items. We eat lot of junks without any clue of its quality. No wonder why the foreign beverage companies do not bother to check their water quality. We need to have the awareness on the quality of food items we take. We need an immediate legislation like AgMark seals to be imprinted upon a quality product.

Otherwise, we Indians will be always a lab rat for the developed countries.

***SAPTA

The Agreement on SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement(SAPTA) was signed on 11 April 1993 and entered into force on 7 December 1995 , with the desire of the Member States of SAARC(India, Pakistan,Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives) to promote and sustain mutual trade and economic cooperation within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) region through the exchange of concessions.

The establishment of an Inter-Governmental Group (IGG) to formulate an agreement to establish a SAPTA by 1997 was approved in the Sixth Summit of SAARC held in Colombo in December 1991.

The basic principles underlying SAPTA are:

1. overall reciprocity and mutuality of advantages so as to benefit equitably all Contracting States, taking into account their respective level of economic and industrial development, the pattern of their external trade, and trade and tariff policies and systems;

2. negotiation of tariff reform step by step, improved and extended in successive stages through periodic reviews;

3. recognition of the special needs of the Least Developed Contracting States and agreement on concrete preferential measures in their favour; and

4. inclusion of all products, manufactures and commodities in their raw, semi-processed and processed forms.

So far, four rounds of trade negotiations have been concluded under SAPTA covering over 5000 commodities.

Participant countries

People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Kingdom of Nepal

Kingdom of Bhutan

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Republic of India

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Republic of Maldives