India-ASEAN FTA in services, investment by year-end

India-ASEAN Business Fair (IABF) & Business Conclave

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Saurabh Gupta | 02 Feb, 2011
Indian, ASEAN free trade agreement in services and investment is expected to be in reality by the end of this year as the government of India and ASEAN countries are at final stage of signing.

Speaking to the media at a press conference on the five-day long INDIA - ASEAN Business Fair (IABF) & Business Conclave 2011 that begins in New Delhi today, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said, "We and ASEAN countries are finalizing the all possibilities of the service agreement very soon and will conclude by the end of this year."

The minister said, "India and ASEAN signed Trade in Goods Agreement in 2009 which was implemented by 8 ASEAN countries so far and the Services and Investment Agreement is under negotiation."

India-ASEAN trade reached the target set by the leaders at the 6th India-ASEAN Summit in 2007 at Singapore of USD 50 billion by 2010. India-ASEAN trade in 2010 stands at USD 50.33 billion with India’s exports accounting for USD 22.52 billion and imports accounting for USD 27.81 billion.

India-ASEAN trade grew by a healthy 22% over the previous year. "With the coming into force of the India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, both sides are confident that the trade target of USD 70 billion by 2012 would also be achieved", Sharma said.

Inaugurating the event first India-ASEAN Business Fair & Business Conclave, he said that India is committed to larger economic integration of Asia which will be in natural process in the current global environment. He pointed out that there is a willingness among India and ASEAN countries to put in place institutional arrangements for taking the cooperation to next levels.

"More we engage with each other, our countries will seize the opportunities that beacon us all," he added.

On India and ASEAN negotiations on widening the base of FTA in services and investments, Dato Seri Mustapa Mohamed of Malaysia said that all the nations are discussing the progress of the talks.

He said, "We are negotiating that for some time. He said that ASEAN-India trade in Goods Agreement is only just the beginning. ‘There are challenges among the way but not insurmountable given the strong political commitment’, he added.

ASEAN Ministers and the Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN were present on the occasion. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is the lead coordinator of the event.

Earlier in the day, Sharma and all the ASEAN Ministers made a courtesy call on the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and apprised him of the progress in India-ASEAN relations. Last year Dr. Singh also has emphasised the need to speed up the finalisation of a free trade agreement in services and investment between India and South East Asian nations.

ASEAN members are - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mayanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

India-ASEAN Business Fair is an Exhibition and a Business Conclave that brings together Policymakers, Business Leaders, Think Tanks, Investors, Importers/Exporters and Entrepreneurs from India and the 10 ASEAN Countries across a wide industry spectrum of businesses to explore the opportunities that the free trade region of the 11 countries created by the India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement provides. More than 500 exhibitors have registered for the event.