FTA/CEPA/Trade Pacts

thakur_ritesh

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As the worlds largest exporter of international terrorism,Pakistan's no 1 export was never under any threat from India.Pakistanis can be rest assured... oh yeah.
nothing beats that mate. good to see you around after a long time, hope you've not got married or something :D.

anyways can some one highlight the total export of pakistan to EU in euros, and the breakup in terms of products.
 

bhramos

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But still those fools won't realize that having good relations with India would make them more good , its their foolishness that they are today in such a mess . man I fell for the people there.
yeah you are correct as for Pakistan its good to keep Good ties with India, But its vis versa to India.
 

Rage

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ajtr

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So pakistani fear was not without basis .india is on the verge of killing its textile industries.

'India-EU FTA to garner extra garment exports worth extra $3 bn'



The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Monday said that the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which is expected to be concluded by the end of the current fiscal, is lilkely to help the country's apparel exporters to garner extra orders worth USD 3 billion from the 27-nation block. The India-EU FTA will also help generate 2.5 million jobs in the textiles and garments export sectors.

The apparel exporters have an ambitious target of USD15 billion in exports by year 2011-12, even though last year's exports at USD 10.64 billion were slightly down by 2.64%. Each USD 1 billion in exports requires an input of 36 million man-hours of work and the attendant demand for raw materials, accessories and logisitics creates vibrancy in the entire ecosystem.
 
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nrj

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So pakistani fear was not without basis .india is on the verge of killing its textile industries.
It won't be fair to call that India will kill Pak's textile industry. Indian textile industry is in losses. This deal might resurrect them. Its about taking the opportunity & using the right resources (even political resources). And why Pak is waking up for its domestic industry now? They could have done better.....
 
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SHASH2K2

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So pakistani fear was not without basis .india is on the verge of killing its textile industries.

'India-EU FTA to garner extra garment exports worth extra $3 bn'





The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Monday said that the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which is expected to be concluded by the end of the current fiscal, is lilkely to help the country's apparel exporters to garner extra orders worth USD 3 billion from the 27-nation block. The India-EU FTA will also help generate 2.5 million jobs in the textiles and garments export sectors.

The apparel exporters have an ambitious target of USD15 billion in exports by year 2011-12, even though last year's exports at USD 10.64 billion were slightly down by 2.64%. Each USD 1 billion in exports requires an input of 36 million man-hours of work and the attendant demand for raw materials, accessories and logisitics creates vibrancy in the entire ecosystem.
Pakistan's Top export is Terrorism and they are undisputed number one exporter in that. We are not even trying to compete with them . Let them excel in their area of excellence and we will excel in our area of strength .Anyways they are making hell lot of money by first exporting terrorism and then offering their service to fight them. Let them all eat grass and keep nuclear Bomb with them which they can never use.
 

ejazr

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FTA/CEPA : India, Japan likely to sign trade pact by year-end

India, Japan likely to sign trade pact by year-end

India and Japan would be wrapping up talks to ink Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) soon even as both sides will sit for the final round of negotiations in Tokyo early next month.

Senior trade negotiators and chief interlocutors will be visiting Tokyo during September 8-10 led by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar for the final round of negotiations. The last round got over on August 17 here. The talks, once concluded, will be followed by final legalities after which the deal will be formally signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit in Japan in October.

"The last round of talks turned out to be extremely fruitful. We hope to close the round next month in Tokyo followed by signing of the deal by the end of the year," a senior trade official told Business Standard.

Under the deal, India's main interests lie in expanding access to the Japanese market in the field of services and pharmaceuticals, which does not enjoy much favour within the Japanese industry. However, both sides will also preserve a negative list on which the tariffs will not be reduced keeping in mind the sensitivities of both countries, the official has said.

The deal is expected to slash tariffs on more than 8,000 products ranging from drugs, apparel, agricultural products to machinery, increasing the bilateral trade between both countries to $20 billion by 2012-13 from around $13 billion at present. In the last summit meeting held in December 2009, Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama extended invitation to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh for their next annual bilateral summit in Japan this year.
 
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EU plans free trade pact with India by December

EU Plans Free Trade Pact With India By December | AHN

EU%20Plans%20Free%20Trade%20Pact%20With%20India%20By%20December
AHN News Staff
New Delhi, India (AHN) - With the aim to sign a free trade pact by December, senior Indian and European Union negotiators will meet in Brussels next week.


Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Daniele Smadja, head of the European Commission delegation to India, confirmed that they would hold the first round of negotiations in Brussels in the coming week, adding that the timetable between now and December's India-EU summit would be very busy.

She said the second round of negotiations would start in October in New Delhi. Smadja also hinted of the possibility of ministerial-level talks to finalize a bilateral investment and trade agreement before the December summit.

"We will also have a meeting probably between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and EU Trade Commissioner Karl De Gucht," she said, adding that market access and tariff concessions would top the agenda. "We have commitments and a deadline...now what is left is to have the capacity to put on the table--concessions. Because, you know trade negotiations are about give and take," the European official said.

Smadja also expressed happiness about the progress between the two sides on the EU-India free trade negotiations and hoped that the negotiations would conclude by the time of the EU-India summit in Brussels in December.

India started negotiations on a free trade pact with the EU bloc in 2007. Since then, some 10 rounds of negotiations have taken place.



Read more: EU Plans Free Trade Pact With India By December | AHN
 

ejazr

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India, Indonesia get into free-trade mode news

domain-b.com : India, Indonesia get into free-trade mode

India and Indonesia, a member country of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), today operationalised a free-trade agreement signed between the two in 2009.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) today notified amendments to the Customs Tariff (Determination of Origin of Goods) under the Preferential Trade Agreement between India and Indonesia, a member country of the Asean, effective 1 October 2010.

Besides Indonesia, five other Asean members - Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand - have also ratified the FTA with India.

The free-trade agreement between India and the Asean member countries slashes import duties on thousands of products like seafood, chemicals and apparel on either side.

India signed the free-trade agreement on goods with the Asean in August 2009 but the agreement had to be separately ratified by each member country for the agreement to be effective.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on Monday issued a notification bringing the FTA with Indonesia into force from 1 October. Other Asean member countries are expected to operationalise the FTA in the coming months as the respective countries ratify the India-Asean free-trade agreement.

Countries like Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines are also expected to operationalise the FTA with India in the near future.

India became a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1996 and has been holding summit-level meetings with the Asean on an annual basis since 2002.

The FTA signed between India and Asean in August 2009 will lift import tariffs on over 80 per cent of traded products between 2013 and 2016, the commerce ministry said in a release.

India is currently engaging the 10-member Asean in liberalising the service and investment regimes as well in order to broadbase their free-trade agreement.

Indonesia is India's largest trading partner in the Asean, accounting for around $11.7 billion of the India-Asean bilateral trade of $44 billion in 2009-10.

The FTA with Indonesia slashes import duties on thousands of products, like seafood, chemicals and apparel on either side.
 

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Israel and India move toward free trade pact


Negotiations on a financial protocol to promote trade between the two countries will begin in November.
10 October 10 14:59, Ron Dagoni and Eran Peer, Washington
Economic relations between Israel and India are set for a significant upgrade in the coming months. Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz met with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee in Washington DC on Friday, and the two men agreed to prepare the ground for a free trade agreement (FTA) between their two countries.
Steinitz and Mukherjee agreed that talks on the signing of a financial protocol to promote trade between the two countries will begin in November. They also agreed that a large Israeli economic delegation, led by Steinitz and including the heads of many of Israel's largest companies, will visit India in early 2011.
In February India's Minister of State for Trade Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia informed his Israeli counterpart Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted Israel's proposal for a free trade zone between the two economies.
Steinitz is in the US capital for the semi-annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank and is meeting with senior economic figures in the Obama administration as well as many foreign Ministers of Finance.
Steinitz said, "Israel cannot rely just on the markets in the US and Europe. We need new markets. We must look eastwards especially to India and China. I am interested in a closer connection between India and Israel, similar to the economic ties we have with the US and Europe."
Steinitz added, "I want to see Indian investments in Israel, just as there are investments by Israeli companies in India. There is a special close chemistry between Indians and Israelis. This closeness can take advantage of the special abilities of the US Jewish community for the benefit of Indian interests.
Steinitz did not say so but taking advantage of the special abilities of the US Jewish community was also one of the important aspects of strategic ties between Israel and Turkey.
Steinitz dismissed suggestions the possibility that an FTA with India would lead to jobs moving away from Israel to India. He said, "Israel usually exports added value and not end products. We aim to achieve economic cooperation with India that is typical of our relations with the US. These relations make the ground fertile for exporting added value, such as chips, which are integrated into end products."
Steinitz has brought to maturity a long term Israeli effort to deepen economic ties with India, one of the most important markets for Israel's defense industries and one of Israel's main trading partners in Asia.
Trade between the two countries, including diamonds, but not including defense deals, amounted to $3 billion in 2009, down 25% from 2008. Trade without diamonds totaled $1.77 billion, down 14% from the previous year. Israeli exports to India totaled $1.21 billion in 2009, and imports totaled $558 million.
 

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Ahead of PM's visit to Japan, Cabinet clears key agreement

October 14, 2010 2:07:03 AM

ANNAPURNA JHA | New Delhi

Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan on October 24, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The agreement is likely to be signed by Singh during his visit to the island nation. It would further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries and be mutually beneficial, especially in the field of trade and commerce.

Sources in the Government confirmed the Cabinet clearing CEPA but said that its details would be made public at the time of signing the agreement.

The two countries have been negotiating CEPA since 2007 and many rounds of negotiations have already been held in this regard.

The comprehensive agreement covers both trade in goods as well as services and also charts out the modalities (or protocols) for foreign investment between the two countries.

Though it would boost the bilateral trade and economic relations that are already in favour of India, many independent groups have been protesting against the secrecy surrounding the negotiations. They apprehend that the Indian Government may commit to a concession far in excess to that agreed at the World Trade Organisation negotiations.

They also have been demanding a proper analysis of CEPA's impact on access to medicine, livelihood of farmers and ownership of seeds as during the earlier negotiations Japan has been insisting on intellectual property rights and plant variety protection. The PM is also likely to discuss civilian nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also approved a proposal to strengthen cultural organisations by filling up gaps in them with professionals. The Cabinet also approved a proposal for converting Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur, and converting it to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology.
 

ajtr

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India, Malaysia to announce free trade pact


India and Malaysia will announce a free trade pact, which had been in the works for close to three years, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here later this month.

However, the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), may not be signed during Singh's visit to Malaysia, slated from October 26—28, officials here said.

The pact, which will take effect next year, aims to enhance the USD 7.1 billion trade between the two countries.

"Everything has been agreed," Malaysia's International Trade & Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said here, noting that India was a big and fast growing market for the country.

Meanwhile, a senior official said the final dates for signing of the CECA will be announced later.

The two countries have conducted seven rounds of discussions on the CECA since February 2008, and the deal will be ready for implementation on July 1, 2011, Mustapa said.

The CECA covers services, investments, customs and trade.

India has exempted 1,225 items from tariff reductions under the Malaysian pact, compared with 1,298 under its Asean deal while Malaysia has exempted 838 items, compared with 898 under the earlier Asean agreement.

The CECA will give Malaysia concessions for export of palm oil and related products.

In 2009, the negotiations were put on hold as both sides wanted to focus on completing the Asean—India Trade in Goods Agreement. An area of key concern to both sides is movement of professionals, especially in the financial and hospitality sectors.

Malaysia is also interested in India's progressive liberalisation in the area of goods and services, particularly in construction and infrastructure development, real estate and property and tourism.

India is an important trading partner for Malaysia and bilateral trade between the two has been on the rise.

In 2009, India was Malaysia's 12th largest trading partner.

Trade with India amounted to USD 7.1 billion, with exports valued at USD 4.8 billion and imports at USD 2.2 billion.

Keywords: free trade pact, CECA
 

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India Loves Africa, Inks Massive Trade Deal With Kenya

BY JENARA NERENBERGThu Oct 21, 2010
The Indian juggernaut rolls on in Africa. Renewable energy, textiles, cruise ship ports, and railways are all part of this latest deal.

India and Kenya are looking to double their trade in the next two years. Kenya wants support in its textile industry and India has its eye on renewable energy sources. The new agreement aims to goose bilateral trade up to 200 billion Kenyan shillings, or about $2.5 billion, by the end of 2013.
India, it seems, is emerging to be a prominent player across the continent of Africa. Trade has grown 145% in the past four years between India and South Africa alone. Yesterday we wrote about India and South Africa partnering up to fight HIV.
"India's state-run power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) proposed to partner with Kenyan government-owned Numerical Machining Complex Ltd to set up a transformer manufacturing plant to serve eastern and southern Africa regions," reports Business Daily Africa.
The Kenyan cities of Mombasa and Lamu are to get support from the Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) in developing cruise ship port facilities. RITES also expressed interest in developing the Nairobi Metropolitan Mass Rapid Transit Programme and Rapid Light Rail. The Industrial Development Bank (IDB Capital Limited) of Kenya and Exim Bank of India will be facilitating some of the transactions.
Once again, we have evidence that the developing world is partnering up in ways that leave the West entirely out of the picture.
 

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Indian Trade Agreements Could Choke AIDS Drug Lifeline

BY JENARA NERENBERGTue Sep 21, 2010
New numbers reveal just how dependent the world really is on India's cheap anti-retroviral drugs, but free trade agreements with the EU could bring catastrophic changes to developing nations.



India is the primary supplier of anti-retroviral (ARVs) AIDS drugs in middle and low-income countries. And a report from the Journal of the International AIDS Society reveals just how catastrophic it would be if somehow that supply were to get cut off due to political, trade, or disaster-related causes: In some countries, up to 90% of children with AIDS are dependent on India's cheap, generic drugs.
Between 2003-2008, "the number of Indian firms supplying ARVs rose from four to ten; while the number of drugs supplied rose from 14 to 53," SciDev.net reports. Beating out all other competitors on price, India's ARVs are the top choice for some countries, revealing just how innovative the South Asian nation has become in the pharmaceutical industry and just how interdependent countries are to literally keep their citizens alive.
The massive, low-cost ARV production industry in India has been made possible by the country's patent laws. "Indian laws did not grant patents on a product, but only on a process to make it, which helped its drug firms to make cheaper versions and improved formulations using alternative methods," SciDev.net reports. This may not sound like innovation--as opposed to simply lax policies or government inefficiency--but in a way it does reveal how India's leaders have allowed a sector to rise up and make the entire country competitive on an international scale.
But not everyone in the world sees those laissez faire patent laws as a good thing. India is in ongoing discussions with the World Trade Organization and the EU, but there is fear that increased patent requirements may dismantle the country's thriving ARV production industry. The study thus suggests that the international community ensure the maintenance and continuation of India's ARV productions as they exist now.
"The proposed EU/India free trade agreement ... will be catastrophic. It will deprive hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in developing countries from having access to new life-saving medicines—a problem that will become even more acute as resistance to currently used antiretrovirals increases," said Treatment Access Campaign researcher, Marcus Low.
We'll watch these developments closely, but mostly with hope that someone, if not India, is able to keep pumping out those life-saving drugs.
 

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India's Pivotal Meningitis Vaccine Rolls Out in Africa


Meningitis is a potentially fatal illness--especially in developing countries--but a new vaccine has just been released that is now on a full sweep through West Africa, helping to prevent massive epidemics and allow vital public health resources to be funneled into other areas. Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali are the first to receive nationwide vaccination drives in December, countries chosen for their high meningitis rates and their relative ability to implement vaccination campaigns.
Whereas previous vaccines only prevented the disease for up to to two or three years, this new vaccine protects children for up to 10 years. In Africa alone, over 88,000 people get the disease every year, resulting in over 4,000 deaths.
"This vaccine, which targets the bacterium [meningococcus A] most frequently causing epidemics, is about preventing epidemics, not waiting, then reacting," said Mamoudou Harouna Djingarey of the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) in an IRIN report. Rather than waiting for the disease to hit and potentially turn into a widespread outbreak, it is in the interest of saving lives, as the field of public health often stresses, to prevent outbreaks rather than focus on treatment.
We wrote previously about India's role in the global pharmaceutical market and how its supply of generic, life-saving drugs is literally a lifeline supply to dozens of other countries, especially poor countries. Well this new vaccine--"called the meningococcal A conjugate vaccine"--is also a product of India, further signifying India's role on the global public health stage.Referring to the vaccine, "This will allow countries to avoid huge meningitis A epidemics and save their resources for other public health needs," said Djingarey.
 

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India, Japan PMs confirm trade pact, discuss nuclear deal

By Shingo Ito (AFP) – 15 hours ago
TOKYO — India and Japan's premiers Monday said they had broadly agreed on a pact to step up trade between the population giant and the high-tech nation but needed time for a deal on civilian nuclear cooperation.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Naoto Kan also stressed the warm ties linking two of Asia's biggest democracies, at a time of high diplomatic tensions between Japan and communist-ruled China.
Kan said after talks with Singh, who was on a three-day Tokyo visit, that "through this meeting, we were able to confirm and be confident about progress in the strategic global partnership between Japan and India".
The two leaders declared the completion of talks on a free trade and investment pact, with a formal signing expected in coming months, under which tariffs on 94 percent of trade would be phased out within a decade.
The deal will help Japanese auto giants, such as Suzuki, who have opened plants in India by lifting tariffs on parts, while also easing access to the market in fast-greying Japan for Indian generic drugs.
"We signed a joint statement confirming the conclusion of negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Japan and India," said Kan after a meeting with Singh.
Singh called the conclusion of talks launched in 2007 "a historic achievement" which would "open up new business opportunities".
They also agreed to cooperate in fields as diverse as stabilising Afghanistan, combating climate change, safeguarding biodiversity, and pushing UN reforms and global free trade efforts, a joint statement said.
However another key deal sought by New Delhi, on civilian nuclear cooperation, remained beyond reach with the leaders only saying they encouraged their officials "to arrive at a mutually satisfactory agreement... at an early date".
Japan and India launched negotiations in June on a pact that would allow Tokyo to export its cutting-edge nuclear technology to the energy-hungry South Asian nation, a hotly contested market for atomic plants.
But Japan -- the only country to have suffered atomic bombings and a key voice in global denuclearisation efforts -- is worried that nuclear-armed India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The start of talks on civilian nuclear cooperation brought cries of protest in Japan from survivors of the US atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final days of World War II.
Kan said that "we agreed to speed up negotiations for civil nuclear energy cooperation, while seeking India's understanding of our country's sentiment as a nuclear-bombed nation".
Singh "reiterated India's commitment to a unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing" and both sides "underscored the importance of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and of further strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation efforts," their joint statement said.
Japan -- which was eclipsed this year by China as Asia's biggest economy and has a shrinking population because of its low birth rate -- is searching for new markets, especially the emerging giants China and India.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have however sharply deteriorated following Japan's September 8 arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea.
Beijing has reacted furiously, cancelling high-level talks and civilian exchanges as well as suspending exports of rare earth minerals, which are crucial for Japan's high-tech industries.
In their statement, the premiers "decided to explore the possibility of bilateral cooperation in development, recycling and re-use of rare earths and rare metals and in research and development of their industrial substitutes."
Singh was Tuesday due to meet Japanese parliamentarians, then travel to Malaysia and later Vietnam, where Southeast Asian leaders will meet the premiers of China and Japan for a summit at the end of the week.
 

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India, Malaysia sign CECA; set $15 bn trade target

Seeking to give a new impetus to bilateral relations, India and Malaysia on Wednesday formally announced firming up of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to boost trade and decided on a range of other engagements in various sectors, including defence.

The two sides signed five pacts in various areas after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Malaysian counterpart Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak and resolved to impart strategic dimension to their relations.

Signing a document with regard to announcement of CECA, the two leaders said the agreement which aimed at allowing freer movement of goods, services and investments, would come into effect on July 1 next year.

"Today marks a turning point in India, Malaysia relations," Dr. Singh told a press conference after the meeting.

He said the discussions with Mr. Razak had laid the basis for multi-faceted partnership between the two countries.

Dr. Singh and Mr. Razak also launched the CEO's Forum which is expected to help forge closer and deeper economic engagement between business and industry of the two countries.

"India welcomes greater investment from Malaysia in infrastructure and manufacturing sector and Indian companies would also want to do business in Malaysia," Dr. Singh said.

Mr. Razak said Malaysia would be happy to share India's economic success and join its journey for economic development of the country.

"We must give new impetus to this relationship. I indicated to Prime Minister Singh that Malaysia is ready for deeper and more intensive relationship," he said

Mr. Razak said the two countries have set a trade target of $15 billion by 2015 and expressed confidence CECA will help achieve it.

Noting that expansion of mutual investment would contribute to reciprocal economic growth of both countries, the two leaders agreed to enhance cooperation and support at government level to further strengthen existing bilateral collaboration in infrastructure development.

The involvement in infrastructure projects, particularly in the construction industry, is expected to provide bigger opportunities in investment through joint business and governmental collaboration, Dr. Singh and Mr. Razak said.
 

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PM for early India-ASEAN FTA in services, investment


Pitching for greater integration between India and South East Asian countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday pressed for early free trade agreement in services and investment and announced visa-on-arrival facility to nationals of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Laos.
He also pushed for early completion of all formalities for implementing the India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, which was signed last year, by all the ASEAN countries.

Speaking at the India-ASEAN Summit here which came out with a five-year 'Plan of Action' outlining roadmap for enhanced multi-faceted cooperation, Singh said India's economy was expected to witness a sustained growth rate of 9-10 per cent in the coming years, which would offer many opportunities for trade and investment.

"Our experience of implementation shows that we need to work very hard at all levels if we have to accelerate the pace of engagement as outlined in the Plan of Action," he told the leaders of 10 ASEAN members assembled here for the annual Summit.The Plan of Action contains 82 points identified for implementation to tap the vast potential in various fields.

Describing it as an "ambitious roadmap" for implementation of 'partnership of peace, progress and shared prosperity' between the two sides, Singh said it shows the desire to develop a multi-faceted India-ASEAN relationship.

"India believes that ASEAN is the core around which the process of economic integration of the Asia-Pacific region should be built," he said.

"The conclusion of a Services and Investment Agreement will be an important step in our goal of comprehensive economic cooperation," the Prime Minister said about the pact negotiations for which are going on.

The India-ASEAN Trade in Goods (TIG) Agreement was signed in Bangkok on August 13 last year after six years of negotiations and it came into force on January 1 this year.

Seen as the world's largest FTA, covering a market of almost 1.8 billion people with a combined GDP of USD 2.8 trillion, the India-ASEAN pact envisages tariff liberalisation of over 90 per cent of products traded between the two dynamic regions.

Tariffs on over 4,000 product lines will be eliminated by 2016, at the earliest.

Services and Investments could not be included in that free trade agreement as the two sides failed to reconcile their differences in time and it was decided to have a separate pact on these sectors.

The Prime Minister said India is expected to achieve a growth rate of 8.5 per cent during the current year and in the coming years, "we hope to sustain a growth rate of 9-10 per cent per year which will offer many opportunities for trade and investment."

He said his government has undertaken programmes for a massive transformation of rural India that is creating a huge and booming rural market for goods and services.

Noting that the theme of the ASEAN Summit this year is the 'Vision to Action,' the Prime Minister said it is equally appropriate for the partnership between India and the 10-nation South East Asian grouping.

In his speech, Singh talked about the need for increased connectivity, movement of people, collaboration in science and technology and education besides security matters.

"We invite many more tourists from the ASEAN countries to visit India to see the splendour of its rich cultural heritage," he said, noting that the text of the ASEAN-India MoU for Cooperation in Tourism has been finalised and ASEAN will soon establish its promotional chapter for tourism in Mumbai.

"As a concrete measure, I am happy to announce that we will extend our visa on arrival facility to nationals of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Laos with effect from January one next year," Singh said.

India already has visa-on-arrival scheme for some other ASEAN countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
 

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