Some ground was covered towards initiating tariff negotiations at the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) joint committee meeting for review of the bilateral pact, per an official statement.

The eight subcommittees set up to negotiate various aspects of the trade pact also made good progress in textual discussions, the statement added. The areas covered under the subcommittees include market access, rules of origin, SPS measures, standards and technical regulations, customs procedures, economic and technical cooperation, trade remedies, and legal and institutional provisions,

The 6th meeting of the AITIGA Joint Committee and related meetings for discussions on the review of the AITIGA, held from November 15-22 in Delhi, were attended by the chief negotiators and senior officials of all ten ASEAN nations and India.

“This round of AITIGA review negotiations was preceded by two high level meetings, 21st ASEAN-India Economic Ministers Meeting in September 2024 and 21st ASEAN-India Summit in October 2024, both in Vientiane, Laos. The Economic Ministers and Prime Ministers/Leaders during both these meetings urged the AITIGA Joint Committee to expedite negotiations and work towards conclusion of review in 2025,” the statement noted.

Review of the AITIGA

India had been demanding a review of the AITIGA, implemented in 2010, as it resulted in disproportionate gains for the ASEAN countries. While India’s exports to the bloc increased to $41.2 billion in FY 2023-24 from $25.62 billion in FY2010-11, imports from the ASEAN countries shot up to $79.66 billion in FY 2023-24 from $30.6 billion in FY 2010-11.

While both sides had agreed to open their respective markets by progressively reducing and eliminating duties on 76.4 per cent coverage of good under the pact, the ASEAN countries did not take on uniform commitments. India wants countries like Vietnam, that took low commitments in the FTA, to open up their markets to Indian goods much more in the review.

India also wants stringent Rules of Origin (ROO), rules that determine the national origin of a product, to ensure that Chinese goods do not enter India at preferential interest rates by getting routed through the ASEAN nations.

India also convened meetings with Thailand and Indonesian teams on the sidelines for discussion on bilateral trade issues. The Indian and ASEAN chief negotiators from Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, had a separate meeting to develop a mutual understanding on the issues under discussion and the way forward, the statement said.

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