India may sign free trade pact with ASEAN in April

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) India is likely to sign a trade
pact with the 10-nation economic bloc ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) in April, Commerce and Industry
Minister Kamal Nath said Friday.

"Maybe at the ASEAN summit at the end of April," Nath
said on being asked when the Comprehensive Economic
Cooperation Agreement with the regional body is expected.

He said there were certain issues including duty cuts
which are yet to be sorted out. "We got a letter a day before
yesterday (from ASEAN), which is not acceptable to us," Nath
said after a bilateral meeting with New Zealand Trade Minister
Tim Groser here.

A senior Commerce Ministry official had earlier said the
pact was scheduled to be signed on February 27 in Thailand.

If the agreement, seeking to make 95 per cent goods
tradeable between India and ASEAN duty-free, were to be signed
later this month, the first phase of reduction would start in
June to be followed by another tranche on January 2010. It
would mean India cuts duties twice in six months.

"We cannot have cuts in six months...that is one of the
issues, so we are looking at it," Nath said, adding, the
summit was scheduled for April, and the two sides have time to
sort out the pending issues.

India-ASEAN trade agreement would pave way for 1.5-1.7
billion people to trade without tariff restrictions. Though
known by the nomenclature of CECA, it would be a free trade
agreement clinched in August 2008.

However, it could not be signed, as scheduled in December
2008 due to political unrest in Thailand.

When asked who would be signing the agreement from the
Indian side, Nath said: "The Prime Minister will decide who
will sign it."

To a query if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be
attending the summit, Nath said," I do not know what the Prime
Minister's decision on attending the summit is...but it is a
summit and Prime Minister has been attending all the summits."

On the trade between India and New Zealand, Nath said the
two countries have agreed for an early commencement of free
trade agreement negotiations. A joint study group (JSG) report
has said there is considerable potential to increase bilateral
trade.

The trade between the two countries in the first seven
months of this fiscal was USD 394 million. FDI inflows from
New Zealand to India was USD 16.8 million mainly in power,
food processing and computer software sector. PTI NKD
SAK
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