New Delhi, May 21 (IANS): The north Indian states of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh on Thursday agreed on achieveing uniformity in tax rates, a Delhi government statement said.

The consensus was brought in a meeting of finance ministers of these states at the Delhi Secretariat on Thursday.

"There should be uniformity in rates of VAT on all goods, especially the goods in which trade diversion takes place, with minimum difference in the sale price," the statement said.

Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, his Punjab counterpart Sukhbir Singh Badal along with the finance ministers of Punjab, Haryana and Himanchal Pradesh took part in the meeting.

The statement said that a committee of secretaries/commissioners of finance/taxation departments of the states should be formed and its decisions should be implemented in a time bound manner.

Punjab's commissioner, excise and taxation will coordinate the meeting, it added.

The ministers also agreed to establish a Zonal Economic Intelligence Unit to avoid cross-border smuggling of goods.