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.
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.
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.
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.
With India and ASEAN making little progress on a proposed free trade pact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the 10-nation bloc on Tuesday to be "more reasonable" on sensitive farm products. "We are trying to persuade our ASEAN friends to be more reasonable and I am hopeful that this process will yield satisfactory outcome," Singh said.
The 45-minute CD tells the entire story of the team's Asean conquest starting from the pre-tournament stage to the tumultuous reception on its return to Kolkata.
Currently, the trade between India and Association of South East Asian Nations stood at $80 billion.
Terming India's ties with the ASEAN as a 'pillar' of its 'Look East' policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday proposed a bilateral trade target of $50 billion by 2010 and sought boosting of cooperation with the key ten-member grouping in technology, health care, climate change and tourism.
Taking India's Look East policy a step further, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday announced visa-on-arrival facility for citizens of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Laos; and emphasised the need to speed up the finalisation of a free trade agreement in services and investment between India and South East Asian nations.
The agreement that provides for both India and ASEAN reducing tariff on agreed goods has come into force with all but Cambodia and Philippines.
Seeking deepening of ties with ASEAN, India on Saturday said it would soon draft a five-year plan of action starting 2016 to take the "trajectories" of common interests with the 10-member grouping to a new level and particularly emphasised on improving connectivity in the region to further boost trade and people-to-people contact.
"We hope to reach a solution by July 2007," the minister said after the ASEAN-India economic minister's meeting held in Cebu, Philippines.
This accord marks the success of India's Look East Policy and is the first with a trading bloc.
This accord marks the success of India's Look East Policy and is the first with a trading bloc.
These categories rank among India's top 10 export items by value.
Differences among the Association of South-East Asian Nations came to the fore on Tuesday night when 10 heads of governments aborted a briefing by United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari on the Myanmar situation after Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein strongly opposed the move.
.jpg)
Since the early 1970s, the Tatas have presence in the city-state.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath will attend an informal ASEAN Economic Ministers-India Consultation in Kuala Lumpur
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is expected to sign a free trade agreement with India next week, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz has said.
India is keen to forge partnerships with ASEAN countries for the exchange of technology to enhance farm productivity and address the impact of climate change on agriculture.
The bilateral trade grew by 4.6 per cent from $68.4 billion in 2011 to $ 71.6 billion in 2012.
Roadblocks in the way of ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement appear to have been removed following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention on the crucial issue of sensitive farm products like pepper, rubber, palm oil, coffee and tea.
'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).
The government on Monday said the South East Asian nations will be allowed to operate daily services to four metros and an unlimited number of flights to 18 tourist destinations in the country, but this cannot be construed as an 'open sky policy'.
India's position on accession to the 1976 treaty has been consistently positive and would demonstrate its determination to cooperate in the maintenance of peace and stability in South East Asia, a spokesman said.
Declaring that India was working on eliminating trade and investment barriers, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday advocated a trade turnover of $30 billion with ASEAN by year 2007.
Although the SARS outbreak had a 'moderate' effect on trade and investment flows between India and ASEAN countries, domestic industry could expect a spur in business in tourism, human resources, consultancy and food processing.
Having initiated Regional Trade Agreements and done away with quantitative restrictions on imports, India said on Friday it was now looking at free trade agreement with ASEAN in the next 10 years.
A 'framework agreement' as a precursor to a free trade arrangement will be signed when the prime minister is in Indonesia next week.
After operationalising FTA in goods last year, both the sides were engaged in widening the base of the pact by including services and investments.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday left for Cambodia to attend the ASEAN and East Asia Summits which will provide an opportunity for India to enhance its economic cooperation against the backdrop of crisis in the western world.
'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.'
Striker Mike Okoro, Baichung Bhutia and Alvito D'Cunha scored goals.\n\n\n\n
India and ASEAN are working on a list of items on which the two sides will bring down tariffs faster and implement it by January next year.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances