India on Thursday strongly supported Japan's proposal for a Pan-Asia trade block that will include 10 members of Asean and six other countries.
Apart from Asean members and India, the proposed Free Trade Area will include China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
"We strongly support it," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Toshihiro Nikai on the sidelines of the 38th Asean Economic Ministers Meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
The proposal for a 16-nation free trade zone has been mooted by Nikai.
Nath is in the Malaysian capital to attend the Asean - India Consultations.
New Delhi fully backed the Nikai initiative, as the proposal is called, which will result in huge economic gain for this part of the world, he said.
On Wednesday, Japan proposed the creation of a 16-nation Pan-Asian Free Trade Area, including India, with economic activity worth $9 trillion. The proposed Free Trade Area will have a population of 3.1 billion people and a GDP of $10 trillion.
However, Asean felt that while studies for a single market in East Asia covering 16 countries was fine, what was more crucial was the pact between the grouping and Tokyo.
Only then, should the grouping clinch similar single markets with China and South Korea and thereafter bring in Australia, New Zealand and India, the Asean ministers felt.
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