Signing of the two pacts -- FTA in services and investments -- were scheduled during the India-ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting in Myanmar last week. But the meeting was postponed as Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not able to attend the meet due to domestic compulsions.
India is considering making concessions on the five-year standstill period for duty cuts on crude and refined palm oil
Customs regimes can lead to labyrinthine legal disputes. Budget 2026 must recognise that an excessively defensive Customs posture can itself become a trade barrier, point out Mukesh Butani and Shankey Agrawal.
The pact on trade in goods under the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement was signed by Indian commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and ASEAN economic ministers after more than six years of intense negotiations.
Asserting that India and Pakistan can unite through a common market, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday invited Islamabad to work jointly for developing a trade and economic block, "which could even be a matter of envy for blocks like Europe
"We hope to reach a solution by July 2007," the minister said after the ASEAN-India economic minister's meeting held in Cebu, Philippines.
A 'framework agreement' as a precursor to a free trade arrangement will be signed when the prime minister is in Indonesia next week.
The agreement that provides for both India and ASEAN reducing tariff on agreed goods has come into force with all but Cambodia and Philippines.
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.
India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed an FTA in goods in August last year and are engaged in intense negotiations to expand this pact to include services and investments.
According to a senior commerce department official, talks between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) - the 10-country trading bloc - have hit a roadblock, with some of the advanced developing countries demanding greater flexibilities from India.
Close on the heels of a Free Trade Agreement with Thailand, India is now focusing on signing more such trade deals with member countries of Association of South East Asian Nations, MERCOSUR
The FTA will provide Indian trade and industry with access to a large and vibrant market in a region that is increasingly prosperous. This market is bound to expand further as the Asean trading bloc is already in talks with countries like China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand for free or preferential trade pacts.
India is the only country which has a negative list incorporated in a trade pact with Asean.
India has offered further pruning of its negative list of 560 items for Association of South East Asian Nations on which there will be no duty cuts
The Centre said on Wednesday it had made a good offer for the proposed Free Trade Agreement with the Association of South East Asian Nation and is awaiting ASEAN's reactions to it.
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.
As India goes into firming up trade deals with developed nations like Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the regional bloc, and the European Union (EU), it will have to be well prepared to negotiate on new-generation issues, such as data protection regulation, e-commerce, and environment. India is yet to negotiate pacts with its trading partners on these evolving issues since discussions between them have until now been largely focused on tariff and non-tariff barriers and the rules of origin. "We can no longer look at trade just as trade. We have to look at it in totality of global and regional conditions.
These categories rank among India's top 10 export items by value.
The road will help in transportation of goods and further development of SMEs in North East India
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.
Asked for China's comments on India not joining the RCEP deal over concern of cheap Chinese products potentially harming its domestic industry, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the media in Beijing on Tuesday that China welcomes India joining the deal.
'It seems a wiser decision to pull out at the right moment than regret after joining the pact,' explains Dr Rahul Mishra.
The Summit comes at a time when China is flexing its muscle to tighten its grip over the disputed South China Sea.
The South Asian nations could script a new history of cooperation and prosperity that could serve as an example for other nations, notes Dr Rahul Mishra.
The US is currently Earth's most powerful country and a certain latitude of understanding -- a world view -- is popularly expected from its leadership. From a country identified with freedom, constitution, debate, democracy and the likes of Abraham Lincoln even as it had the most powerful military around, the US, following Trump's actions, seemed repositioned as militarily powerful with other qualities secondary, observes Shyam G Menon.
We take a look at India's major imports and exports with Japan in recent years.
The Indian armed forces, especially the Navy, are building partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region for peace and security, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, he said.
India has been forcefully raising the issue of market access as well as protected lists of goods mainly to shield its domestic market as there have been fears that the country may be flooded with cheap Chinese agricultural and industrial products once it signs the deal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to South Korea is considered essential in strengthening defence ties, enhancing economic cooperation and forging cultural ties between the two countries, says Dr Rahul Mishra
Bangladesh is in turmoil, which is not good news for India, which shares a porous 4000 km border with it. There is a danger of fundamentalism growing there, and India has to move in to reset its ties with the new dispensation before China and Pakistan make capital out of it, alerts Ramesh Menon.
Had India agreed to join the trade pact, Indian markets would have been flooded with cheap Chinese products.
Modi will have limited choice other than stressing upon a request for more time to decide on tariff rates, especially with elections in 2019.
The trigger that led Japan and the Philippines to ink the deal was because of the deteriorating security situation in the South China Sea. China's coast guard increased the frequency and intensity of incursions into Philippine waters, provoking the Philippines to take countermeasures to deter China, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
'China feels India will be hard-pressed not to go after China because we are so badly dependent on them -- and that is the reality.'
Substantial gains can still be made with good policies and initiatives.
Thailand's importance to India's Act East policy is too significant to be overlooked.
Modi will have a number of high-profile multilateral and bilateral meetings with global leaders including United States Vice President Mike Pence and Singapore premier Lee Hsein Loong.
The agreement on services, if ratified by all member countries, could prove to be a game changer for Indian professionals in education, healthcare & IT.
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