India signs FTA with 10 member ASEAN

FTA With 10 Member ASEAN: India Looks South East For Trade In Services

India has just signed an FTA with the 10 member Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. The agreement is pertaining to the Trade in Services and Investment. According to the Ministry of Commerce the legal scrubbing of the two agreements has been completed. The Ministry ha also endorsed the text of the agreements during an AEM or ASEAN Economic Ministers and India consultation. The consultation was held in Brunei in the year 2013 during the month of August.

India has completed the domestic procedure for signing of the agreement in December last year. The Indian government has now signed the FTA in services and investment with the 10 member ASEAN and cleared the way for free movement of professionals as well as greater opportunities for investment.

The FTA in goods has been implemented by he country along with the Association of South East Asian Nations in the year 2011. "India has formally signed the trade in services and trade in investments agreement with Asean. The services agreement will open up opportunities of movement of both manpower and investments from either side between India and Asean," an official was quoted by the media as saying.

India has good company when it comes to the FTA. 9 out of the 10 ASEAN countries have signed the pact and Philippines is completing its domestic procedure following which it too will sign the pact. The signing of the 2 pacts both FTA in trade in services and investment were scheduled for the 26th August meet at Myanmar. However, the meeting had been postponed then and it was only at this point in time that the agreement could be signed.

India has also proposed the circulation process for being a signatory to the pact with ASEAN. As per the circulation process, all of the members will have to separately sign the agreement and it will only be implemented once the last member has signed the pact.

The agreement pertaining to trade in services is a typical epitome of the modern, comprehensive pact in line with past bilateral agreements to which India has also been a signatory. "Some of the important articles contained in the agreement are ones on transparency, domestic regulations, recognition, market access, national treatment, increasing participation of developing countries, joint committee on services, review, dispute settlement and denial of benefits," the official was also quoted as saying.

The pact was signed following two years after discussion pertaining to it was closed. The negotiations for an FTA in services and investment had met with success in 2012 itself. The pact between the two sides will now lead to fruitful economic partnerships.

ASEAN comprises Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia. Trade between ASEAN and the country of India was pegged at $76 billion in the year 2012-2013.