India, ASEAN pitches for early conclusion of FTA in services

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) Trade ministers of India and
10-nation ASEAN on Saturday asked their negotiating officials
to "step up efforts" and show greater flexibility for early
conclusion of the free trade pact in services and investments.
The services sector is of key interest to India as it
contributes over 55 per cent to its GDP.
All the ministers including Indian Commerce and Industry
Minister Anand Sharma reviewed the progress of the talks on
services and investment agreement besides other issues at the
'ASEAN Economic Ministers’ meet at Manado in Indonesia.
India and the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) have already implemented a free trade agreement in
goods and are engaged in intense negotiations to expand this
pact to include services and investments.
"The Ministers reviewed the progress in the negotiations
on services and investment agreement. They tasked the
negotiators to step up their efforts and exhibit greater
flexibility for completion of these negotiations with
substance," an official statement said.
Informing about the flexibilities shown by India in the
negotiations, Sharma urged ASEAN member countries to
reciprocate with improved offers.
"The Ministers underscored the importance of the services
and investment agreement to complement the Trade in Goods
Agreement, in order to further enhance the economic
integration of ASEAN and India," it added.
Trade between the two sides increased by 24 per cent in
2010 to USD 51.3 billion.
Foreign Direct Investments inflows from ASEAN has reached
USD 14.25 billion in May 2011 and accounted for 10.36 per cent
of the country's total FDI.
Later in the day, Sharma also met the Economic Ministers
from the East Asian Summit participating countries ie the ten
ASEAN Member States-- Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New
Zealand.
They exchanged views on regional and global issues
affecting the East Asian region as well as developments in
areas of economic cooperation within the East Asia Summit
framework, it said.
"The Ministers noted the progress of the Working Groups
that were tasked to look into the recommendations in the
studies on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia
(CEPEA)," it said.
Sharma also held bilateral meetings with the Trade
Ministers of Australia, Indonesia and Philippines.
The Asean countries comprise of Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines,
Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.