India and the 10-member ASEAN have activated the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement joint committee to undertake the review of the pact, per a statement issued by the Commerce Ministry.
Ministers, at the 19th ASEAN-India Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Cambodia on Friday, endorsed the scope of the review of the agreement to make it more user-friendly, simple, and trade facilitative for businesses, as well as responsive to the current global and regional challenges including supply chain disruptions, the release said
India has long been asking for a review of the India-ASEAN free trade pact as it wants a number of issues, including the non-tariff barriers faced by sectors such as automobiles and agriculture in the ASEAN region, to be addressed.
Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Anupriya Patel co-chaired the meet with Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak. The Economic Ministers or their representatives from all the 10 ASEAN countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, attended the meeting.
FDI policy
Patel shared information on the steps taken by India in liberalising and simplifying its FDI policy and invited ASEAN countries to invest in the country.
“The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to take collective actions to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic and work towards a sustainable post-Covid recovery,” the release stated
Trade and economic relations between ASEAN and India are starting to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministers observed. Two-way trade between ASEAN and India reached $91.5 billion in 2021 increasing 39.2 per cent year-on-year. The Ministers also took note of the recommendations made by ASEAN India Business Council to enhance the ASEAN India economic partnership and the activities undertaken by AIBC in 2022, the statement added.