“By pooling our forces, we can rewrite and write a golden chapter of progress and prosperity for 30 percent of the world`s population,” he said, referring to the 2 billion people of India and the 10 ASEAN countries. “Let us all decide to work together to deepen our trade and investment relationships in the post-COVID world and strengthen our in-person and business-to-business interactions,” he concluded. The ASEAN-India Merchandise Trade Agreement (TIG) was signed on 13 August 2009 during the 7th ASEAN-India Economic Ministers` Consultations in Bangkok, Thailand. The Agreement entered into force on 1 January 2010 for India and certain ASEAN Member States. The entry into force of the agreement by other ASEAN member states and India will be the date on which the ASEAN member state and India are ready to implement the agreement. For Brunei Darussalam, the time of implementation of the Agreement on Trade in Goods was 1 June 2010. “It is unfortunate that in the recent past, we have faced several restrictive obstacles to our exports to the ASEAN region, especially in the agricultural and automotive sectors,” Goyal said at a meeting with ASEAN trade and finance ministers hosted by the CII on Friday. “This has only led to countermeasures from other countries, including India, and will affect the long-term desire of our leaders to expand trade between the two sides” Obstacles to increasing ASEAN-India trade include significant non-tariff barriers in India and several ASEAN markets, as well as incongruities between ASEAN products and India`s supply chain. India`s Minister of Trade and Industry Piyush Goyal said the removal of non-tariff and other barriers would boost trade between ASEAN and India from about $80 billion to $200 billion. “India is currently experiencing exponential growth in imports from the ASEAN region, while our exports have been hampered by the non-reciprocity of FTA concessions, non-tariff trade barriers, import restrictions, quotas and export taxes from ASEAN countries.
Such a review will align with contemporary business practices, procedures and regulatory harmonization,” he said. India`s bilateral trade with ASEAN could grow from $80 billion to $200 billion with a collective effort, he said. “For trade to grow, it must be fair, transparent, just, reciprocal and inclusive,” Goyal said, urging ASEAN ministers to push for a “swift conclusion of the scoping exercise” so that the revision of the trade pact can begin. The signing of the ASEAN-India Merchandise Trade Agreement (AITIGA) in Bangkok on August 13, 2009 paves the way for the creation of one of the largest free trade areas in the world with nearly 1.8 billion people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $4.5 trillion. Trade between ASEAN and India grew by more than 22% per year between 2005 and 2011. Trade between India and ASEAN in 1964-2002 increased by more than 37 percent to $79 billion, more than the $70 billion target set in 2009. [8] After India became an ASEAN sectoral dialogue partner in 1992, India saw its trade with ASEAN increase relative to its trade with the rest of the world. Between 1993 and 2003, bilateral trade between ASEAN and India grew at an annual rate of 11.2 per cent, from $2.9 billion in 1993 to $12.1 billion in 2003. [7] Much of India`s trade with ASEAN is directed to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, with which India has close economic ties.
[6] Sign up here to access free tools such as favorites and alerts or personal subscriptions In recognition of this trend and the economic potential of closer ties, the two sides recognized opportunities to deepen their trade and investment relations and agreed to negotiate a framework agreement to pave the way for the establishment of an ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (FTA). [7] The signing of the ASEAN-India Merchandise Trade Agreement paves the way for the creation of one of the world`s largest free trade agreements – a market of nearly 1.8 billion people with a total economic GDP of $2.8 trillion. The ASEAN-India FREE TRADE AGREEMENT provides for tariff liberalization of more than 90 percent of the products traded between the two dynamic regions, including “specialty products” such as palm oil (crude and refined), coffee, black tea and pepper. Tariffs on more than 4,000 product lines will not be abolished until 2016 at the earliest. Since the early 2000s, India has experienced a growing trade deficit with ASEAN, with imports exceeding exports by more than $6 billion in 2007-2008. [11] There are concerns that a gradual liberalization of tariffs and an increase in the number of goods imported into India could threaten several sectors of the economy, in particular the plantation sector, some manufacturing industries and the maritime industry. [11] As the dominant exporter of light industrial products, ASEAN has competitive tariffs that make it difficult for India to access the industrial market in ASEAN countries. [12] With the entry into force of the agreement in 2010, one of the largest free trade areas in the world was created, covering a combined market of nearly 1.8 billion people. .
