Comments
With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the leaders of ten Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations) member-countries calling for increasing bilateral trade volumes to $100 billion by 2015, the two successfully concluded the negotiations on Asean-India trade in services and investment.
Prime Minister Singh announced the completion of negotiations at the plenary session of India-Asean commemorative summit.
“Following the implementation of our FTA in goods, two-way flows in investments have grown rapidly to touch $43 billion over the past decade. As Asean investments into India have multiplied, Asean countries too have emerged as major destinations for Indian companies.
“From energy, resources to farm products, from materials to machinery and from electronics to information technology, Indian and Asean companies are forging new partnerships in trade and investment,” Singh said.
Briefing media-persons after the plenary, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that no timeframe has yet been fixed for signing of the agreements. “There are no hiccups. The negotiations have been concluded successfully,” he said.
Addressing the plenary session, the Prime Minister said that as maritime nations, India and the Asean should intensify their engagement for maritime security and safety, for freedom of navigation and for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes in accordance with international law. Emphasising on building connectivity between India and the Asean, Manmohan Singh said that it was necessary to attach high priority to a quick implementation of the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and its extension to Lao PDR and Cambodia.
Trilateral highway
“We should also launch the second track that would run from India through Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia to Vietnam,” Singh said.
Pointing out that that these infrastructure projects require huge finances, the Prime Minister called for “innovative ways of financing and executing these projects, which also draw upon the expertise and resources of the private sector.”
Addressing the meeting, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for starting negotiations on an Asean-India air services agreement.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak said that Malaysia will welcome English teachers from India.
> ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.