PM pushes for early India-ASEAN FTA in Services, Investment

Hanoi, Oct 30 (PTI) Keen on India's deeper and enhanced
integration with South East Asia, Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on Saturday pressed for early completion of
free trade agreement in Services and Investment and
implementation of such a pact on Goods signed last year.
Singh also announced visa-on-arrival facility to
nationals of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Laos from
January next year and a slew of other measures like setting up
of a Centre for Tracking and Data Reception and an Imaging
facility for 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.