INDIA-ASEAN Services & Investment Agreement Negotiations Reviewed:

Anand Sharma Meets Asean Trade Ministers

Shri Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce and Industry met trade/Commerce Ministers from the ten ASEAN Member States at Da Nang, Viet Nam today to review, among other matters, the India-ASEAN Services & Investment Agreement negotiations. The ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and the Minister of Commerce and Industry of India met at the Eighth AEM-India Consultations meeting. The Ministers reviewed the progress in the negotiations on services and investment and directed that the talks need to be accelerated. Indian Minister urged that both Parties should finalize the services text and concurrently complete negotiations on the schedules of commitments on the basis of the mandate of the Leaders given in Framework Agreement of 2003 for substantial sectoral coverage and GATS-plus agreement. He hoped that ambitious and commercially meaningful offers be exchanged between the parties. The Ministers also called for intensification of negotiation on core issues in investment. The Ministers underscored the importance of trade in services and investment negotiations to complement the trade in goods agreement, in order to further enhance the economic integration of ASEAN and India.

In this respect, Ministers tasked the negotiators to step up their engagement with a view to completing negotiations by March 2011. The Ministers emphasised that the challenges encountered in the services and investment negotiations could be overcome through greater understanding and flexibility among the parties to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion.

The Ministers also exchanged views on the global economic environment, noting with satisfaction that emerging economies in Asia were leading the recovery in the global economy. India’s economy is poised to expand by 9.4% in 2010, while ASEAN’s real GDP is expected to be over 5%, much higher than the 1.5% recorded in 2009. In 2009, ASEAN’s trade with India remained high at US$41.2 billion and India was ASEAN’s seventh largest trading partner. They expressed confidence in the strengthening economic ties between the two sides, further boosted by the implementation of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement in 2010. The Ministers encouraged the full implementation of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement by all countries within 2010 so that the private sector could reap benefits offered by the Agreement. In line with the transparency requirements of the WTO, ASEAN and India have notified the ASEAN-India FTA agreements to the WTO under the Enabling Clause on 23rd August 2010.

The Ministers also took the opportunity to review progress of the Doha negotiations, remaining convinced that a strong multilateral system based on mutually beneficial outcomes in agriculture, NAMA and services are key to a stable and progressive global trading system.