Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attended the 10th ASEAN-India summit in Phnom Penh on Monday with the aim of strengthening India's relations with countries in the South East Asian region.
Each member will separately sign the agreement & it will become effective only after the last member signs the pact.
Sitharaman cancels Myanmar trip at last moment citing launch of Modi's Jan Dhan Yojana.
Addressing the India-ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Singh said, "India's relationship with ASEAN members and with ASEAN institutionally continues to grow in all dimensions. Commerce and connectivity are vital areas of this relationship and we have made good progress in both."
India wants more business and closer engagement with ASEAN even as China's influence spreads in the region. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with the prime minister on his visit to Brunei, reports from Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of the tiny oil-rich country.
The inaugural India-ASEAN Car Rally on Tuesday kicked off from the historic Judges field in Guwahati.
Countries that raised concerns about the quality of Indian spices have called for urgent attention and action, Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said on Wednesday. The stakes are high since India exported spices worth about $692.5 million to the United States (US), Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Maldives in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), it said. During FY24, India's spice exports were worth $4.25 billion, accounting for a 12 per cent share of the global spice exports.
PM Modi proposed a USD one billion line of credit to promote projects that support physical and digital connectivity between India and ASEAN.
Talks on the ambitious India-Asean Free Trade Agreement have received another setback due to the violent protests at the Asean summit venue in Thailand last Sunday.
India and the 10-member ASEAN grouping on Thursday announced concluding a deal for a free trade agreement that will break duty barriers for goods in the 1.5 billion people strong market.
Aiming to give fillip to India's Look East policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to announce new initiatives to take forward ties with the ASEAN by setting up a mission and appointing an ambassador for the 10-member grouping.
With India in talks with the ASEAN members for a FTA, Ayurveda was expected to play a major role in healthcare exports.
The majestic Rajpath saw a scintillating display of India's military might as the country celebrated its 69th Republic Day on Friday, with the leaders of all the 10 countries of the ASEAN attending the parade. Take a look here.
Opening the plenary on Tuesday morning, Singapore premier Lee Hsein Loong said the ASEAN leaders will strive to prevent the Myanmar issue "from obstructing efforts to deepen integration and build an ASEAN Community" after the grouping abruptly withdrew an invitation to UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to address the summit following Yangaon's objection.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday began hectic parleys with his counterparts from Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam to narrow down differences on finalising the much-awaited Asean-India Free Trade Agreement. However, the Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said that the 10-member Asean had put the trade talks "on hold" until India came up with a more progressive way forward.
In fact, India stands to gain in sectors such as textiles, handicrafts, chemicals and pharmaceutical from its trade with the Asean economies.
Trade between China and ASEAN nations is expected to touch $ 300 billion this year, registering a 37.5 per cent increase on the back of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two sides, said the executive secretary general of China-ASEAN Business Council.
Consumers can expect duty-free imports of a range of products like capital goods, some textiles, electronic goods and chemicals from next year after India successfully concluded negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement for goods with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore on Thursday.
'With continued focus on votes, upcoming by-polls and purchasing politicians, the political hierarchy has little time for national defence.' 'They would do well to heed a veteran scholar, who says, "There will be war with China in the next few years. The next full scale war will have the involvement of Pakistan and terror elements, insurgents and intelligence assets operating inside India",' warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday night returned home from Cambodia after attending the ASEAN and East Asia Summits which provided India with an opportunity to enhance its economic cooperation with the region amid lingering financial crisis in the West.
Ways to expand cooperation with East Asian countries will top the agenda of two-day visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who left for Singapore on Tuesday to attend the ASEAN and East Asia Summit. Noting that the trade between India and the ASEAN had been growing rapidly, Singh said it had "surpassed" the expectations as it stands at $30 billion.
The Confederation of Indian Industry and ASEAN on Monday set up two task forces in pharmaceuticals and agriculture and food processing to prepare a strategy document to outline a roadmap for cooperation in these sectors.
"Greater connectivity is also central to the idea of regional economic integration," the prime minister said in his speech at the fifth India-ASEAN summit in Cebu, Philippines.
Vice President Hamid Ansari, whose last engagement in his 4-day visit to Vietnam was an Indian community reception hosted by Ambassador Ranjit Rae on Thursday afternoon, described the community as an important agent to expand the economic, commercial and technological ties with the Association of South East Asian Nations, Asean. Around 300 Indians from various backgrounds attended the reception.
India and ASEAN have reached an accord to enhance partnership in the field of science and technology with a thrust on bio-technology and agriculture. \n\n
Trade ministers of India and ASEAN countries are likely to meet in Singapore next month to work out a common ground so that the much-awaited India-ASEAN free trade agreement takes off next year.
Giving a fresh impetus to its ties with ASEAN, India today said it would soon draft a five-year action plan starting 2016 for enhancing connectivity and cooperation in diverse areas and hoped the long-delayed free trade pact on services and investment will be signed later this month.
'We are sure FY25 is going to be better...But to call out that all problems are behind us is a bit early.' 'The underlying business sentiment has not changed significantly.'
India is likely to play a bigger role when the 10-member ASEAN and six other Asian nations meet in the backdrop of differences between China and Japan.
The PM was also seen chit-chatting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at the reception for the leaders who have arrived in Manila for the 31st ASEAN summit and related meetings.
The national flag was in the background of Modi and Abe's customary handshake at the Summit and was hoisted on a stand next to that of Japan.
Eyeing greater cooperation with South East Asian countries on economic and security issues, India on Thursday announced a separate Mission for ASEAN region to be set up in Jakarta with a full-time resident Ambassador.
During the meeting, the external affairs minister highlighted the foreign policy aspects in the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance government.
The formalisation of Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA) covering the goods sector marks an important step towards India's deepening trade links with its partners in the Asian region.
The implementation of the ambitious India-Asean Free Trade Agreement is likely to miss the target date of January 1, 2009. Negotiators from both the countries had closed talks this August, after six years of painstaking dialogue.
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