India-ASEAN Trade Pact Review: Conclusion Expected in October

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) India is expecting to reach some kind of conclusion on the review negotiations of the existing free trade agreement in goods with the 10-nation Asean bloc before the Asean-India Summit, scheduled for October, a government official said on Tuesday.

Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal said that the 10th and 11th rounds of talks between the two sides are likely in August in the national capital and in October in Malaysia.

"We are engaged in the negotiations. Nine rounds of talks have been concluded so far...The progress so far has been chequered, it is not (what we could have been) like, but the good part is that we are moving on many aspects, especially on customs and trade facilitation," Agrawal told reporters here.

Further, he said talks are also moving on issues like technical cooperation, SPS (sanitary and phyto-sanitary) and TBT (technical barriers to trade) collaborations.

"We hope there is going to be one physical round in August and...another in October in Malaysia. So we hope that in these two rounds, we should be able to make good progress and try to have some kind of conclusion when the Asean-India Summit takes place in October-end. The endeavour is towards that direction. Let's see how much we can achieve," he said.

The review of the agreement is a long-standing demand of the domestic industry, and India is looking forward to an upgraded pact, which will address the current asymmetries in bilateral trade and make trade more balanced and sustainable.

After the implementation of the agreement, India's exports stood at only about USD 38-39 billion annually, while imports from the 10-nation Asean bloc jumped to USD 86 billion.

Asean countries have opened less number of tariff lines or product categories for India. India has offered duty concessions on over 71 per cent of the tariff lines to Asean countries.

Asean members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Indonesia has opened 41 per cent of its tariff lines, Vietnam 66.5 per cent and Thailand 67 per cent.

A free trade agreement in goods between India and the 10-nation bloc Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was signed in 2009.

The Asean trade deal came into force in January 2010. In August 2023, both sides announced a complete review of the existing agreement in goods by 2025.

Asean as a group is one of India's major trade partners with about an 11 per cent share in the country's global trade.

India is asking for a review to eliminate barriers and misuse of the pact.