New Delhi: Vietnam is expected to implement
the Indo-ASEAN free trade agreement in the first quarter of
2010, liberalising the USD 2.13-billion trade with India, a
commerce ministry official said.
Vietnamese Trade and Industry Minister Vu Huy Hoang
during a meeting with his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma here
indicated that his country would implement the Indo-ASEAN free
trade agreement (FTA) in the first quarter of 2010, the
official said.
The delay in implementation of FTA by Vietnam is believed
to be due to the approval process.
"Their (Vietnam's) internal approval procedure is little
long...they have started the process," the official said.
India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
pact signed earlier this year, would, over time, allow duty
free trade of 4,000 products ranging from steel to apparels to
sugar to tobacco.
Duties on import and export of goods between the country
and ASEAN members like Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar
and Thailand would be reduced or in some cases eliminated from
January 1, 2010.
The implementation of the FTA by Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia and Laos-- the other four members of the 10-nation
economic bloc-- is also likely to be delayed by few months.
The pact 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.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 08, 2009, 17:37