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Feb 16 – India and the ten-member ASEAN block will hold discussions on ways to conclude talks before the August 2010 deadline to widen the scope of their free trade agreement to include services and investment.
This is expected to provide huge opportunity to Indian professionals working throughout Southeast Asia as well as vice-versa. The series of meetings on the issue will start in New Delhi next month and the two sides would discuss ways to expand the FTA they signed last August to cover services and investment. The market opening trade pact in goods already began on January 1.
New Delhi and ASEAN aim to increase their US$44 billion trade to US$50 billion by the end of this year. The services sector is of key interest to New Delhi as it contributes over 55 percent to India’s GDP. It is also an important area for export earnings. India had already sent its requests to the ASEAN members. The negotiations are taking place on a request-offer basis wherein both sides make requests for the openings they seek and offers are made by the receiving country based on the requests.
According to a Confederation of Indian Industry report, the services part of the India-ASEAN FTA is crucial as India seeks market access for its IT, health, education and other services in ASEAN with its rapidly growing middle-class. The ASEAN market is important for India as the region is a net importer of services and imported over USD180 billion worth of services in 2008. Trade Ministers from India and the ASEAN countries, which include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore last year had agreed that services and investment should be made part of the bilateral agreement by August 2010.
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