India, ASEAN conclude deal for FTA in goods
August 28, 2008 – 6:30 pmdia’s look east policy started yielding good results. India and southeast Asian trading bloc ASEAN successfully concluded six years of negotiations for a free trade agreement in goods that will create an European Union-like single market. This deal expected to give boost to exporters in India. The deal would be formally signed during the India-ASEAN summit in Bangkok in December.
Speaking on the occasion our Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath described the Trade in Goods (TIG) agreement with the 10-member ASEAN as “key regional milestone”.
Combined market of India and ASEAN is over 1.5 billion people and it’s growing at a faster rate than global average. But it took 6 years for both regions to understand other party’s concerns. Currently India and ASEAN enjoy a total trade of USD 38 billion and after the deal it is expected to touch USD 50 billion by 2010.
Last year talks were held up over differences on products that India wanted to exclude from tariff cuts. India had submitted a list of 1,414 products, while the ASEAN’s target number was 400. This pact is win-win situation for both. Under the pact, India and ASEAN will eliminate import duties on 71 per cent of products by December 31, 2012 and another 9 per cent by 2015. It was also agreed that duties on 8 to 10 per cent of the products that have been kept in the sensitive list will be brought down to 5 per cent.