Akash Jha
On August 21, India and the Asean group of 10 countries agreed to begin reviewing their current FTA in goods.
According to a statement released by the trade ministry, the two regions have agreed to conduct negotiations on a quarterly basis and to wrap up the review in 2025. The discussion took place in Semarang, Indonesia, on the fringes of the 20th Asean Economic Ministers (AEM)-India Consultation meeting.
A joint media statement issued after the meeting expressed satisfaction with the ongoing review of the Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA). It also approved the AITIGA Joint Committee’s terms of reference, the review negotiations’ work plan, and the negotiation framework.
Priority areas for collaboration between the two sides include building more resilient supply chains, ensuring food and energy security, improving health outcomes, and bolstering financial security. Indonesian Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan and India’s Department of Commerce’s Additional Secretary Rajesh Agrawal co-chaired the meeting.
According to the statement released by the ministry of commerce, the review of the AITIGA has been a long-standing desire of Indian enterprises, and its early beginning will assist make the FTA trade facilitative and mutually advantageous. As of midnight on January 1, 2010, the FTA was fully operational.
On July 27, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal called the FTA’most ill-conceived’ and unfair to the home sector. “The ASEAN agreement is a very unfavourable trade arrangement for Indian business. In spite of the fact that India has opened its market to Japan and Korea under FTAs, he claimed, neither country had opened its markets to Indian exporters.
The total value of bilateral trade between India and ASEAN in 2022-23 was $131.5 billion. According to the joint declaration, “in 2022-23, India’s total trade with ASEAN amounted to 11.3% of India’s total trade.”
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Indian exports to ASEAN reached $44 billion in 2022-23, up from $42.32 billion the previous year. Imports from ASEAN rose to $87.57 billion in 2022-23 from $68 billion in 2021-22. That’s why the gap between India and ASEAN’s trade totals ballooned to $43.57 billion in 2022-23, up from $25.76 billion the year before.
Countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are all part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
