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India moves closer to free trade pact with ASEAN
By siliconindia staff writer
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Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will soon okay a list of bilateral trade items for tariff concessions from January next year, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has said in Jakarta.
The items and the tariff lines will be announced as part of an early harvest programme under the framework agreement on comprehensive economic cooperation between India and ASEAN, the minister said Sunday, according to a statement issued here.
He made the announced during in his address as co-chair of the third session of ASEAN Economic Ministers and India Consultations with Indonesian Trade and Industry Minister Rini Soewandi.
"I see the early harvest programme not only as a confidence-building measure, but also as a commercial instrument which will bestow upon us a substantial level of economic gain - a win-win situation for us all," Kamal Nath added.
The early harvest programme was to come into effect from Nov 1, but the date has now been deferred to Jan 1 as the negotiations are not yet complete.
"The Working Group on Rules of Origin needs to do some more work and resolve outstanding issues," Kamal Nath said.
"If we approach these matters with open minds and allow our negotiators the necessary flexibilities, there is no reason why these problems cannot be resolved," he added.
Ministers from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam attended the meeting, which also assessed global and regional developments and ASEAN-India relations.
The ministers noted that ASEAN-India bilateral trade grew an annual 11.22 percent to $12.09 billion in 2003 from $9.88 billion in 2001.
They noted there was potential for further growth and that the establishment of the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area would provide the impetus to drive this growth.
"For a region as fast growing as the ASEAN and an economy as large and strong as India's, a mere 10 percent annual growth rate is certainly not enough," Kamal Nath said.
"I think we must be more ambitious, we must aim much higher. We should make concerted efforts to double the volume of our trade within three years."
The meeting also announced the setting up of the ASEAN-India Business Council to provide the private sector necessary perspective and feedback on initiatives aimed at broadening and deepening economic linkages between ASEAN and India.
The ministers urged the council to organise its inaugural meeting as soon as possible and said they looked forward to the early commencement of its activities.
The ministers also welcomed the organisation of the Third ASEAN-India Business Summit October 19-21 in New Delhi and Chennai and were optimistic of the continued success of the event.
On the multilateral trade negotiations within the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Kamal Nath reiterated India's commitment to the successful progress of the negotiations to achieve a world trading order based on justice and equity.
At the same time, he underlined that regional trading arrangements, if entered into in right spirits, would complement and supplement the multilateral system.