New Delhi: India's trade with South East Asia
will be liberalised only partially from January 2010, as half
of the 10-nation bloc has not received parliamentary approval
for the Free Trade Agreement signed in August.
Duties on import and export of goods between India and
Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand would be
reduced or in some cases eliminated from 2010.
"These countries would be able to implement the agreement
from January 2010 and the rest (of the 10) in the next few
months," Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry P K Dash
told reporters on the sidelines of RIS and ITPO conference
here.
India and Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean)
had on August 13 signed FTA in Bangkok with the aim of giving
boost to their USD 48 billion trade.
The pact would, over time, allow duty free trade of 4,000
products ranging from steel to apparels to sugar and tobacco.
It would open a 1.7-billion consumer market to the member
countries with a combined GDP of USD 2.3 trillion and give
boost to trade, hit by the global recession.
India is keen on extending the scope of the pact and wants
to encompass services and investments as the country has a big
stake in the sector. Both the sides have set August 2010 as
the deadline for reaching an agreement.
The ASEAN countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 22:02