Official sources said the meeting is going to take place before the forthcoming Saarc summit here on November 13 and 14. Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury will attend the Islamabad meeting.

The Saarc commerce ministers will take stock of the progress of the work of the committee of experts and formulate recommendations for the summit leaders to provide direction for the next move about launching the Safta.

The commerce secretaries of the seven member states will also meet on October 20 and 21 to review the overall trade and investment situation at the intra-regional level.

This meeting will be preceded by a two-day meeting of the committee of experts which is negotiating the complex issues related to launching the free trade regime.

This will be the 11th meeting of the committee of experts negotiating primarily on negative list, rules of origin and compensation mechanism for the Saarc's least developed partners including Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.

The sources said there are some areas where intervention from the top leadership of the Saarc members like, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka may be required to settle the issues.

The Saarc commerce ministers may make important recommendations for the summit leaders. The Islamabad meeting is going to be very important from this point of view, the sources said.