In a bid to expand the scope of the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the ten-member Asean bloc, the two sides met on Wednesday and said that services negotiations are likely to be completed by the by year-end.
Commerce minister Anand Sharma said, ?We are in an advanced stage of concluding negotiations (for free trade agreement) in services and investments.? Sharma said once the FTA incorporates services, it would increase the economic partnership between the two sides. Exuding hope of greater investments flow from the Asean region, Sharma said that in the next five years India would require investments of upto a whopping $1 trillion into the the modernisation of its infrastructure like ports and railways.
Malaysian international trade & industry minister Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed said that the two trading partners must set a deadline for service negotiations to give the talks an impetus. ?There has to be a deadline. We wish services could have been included last year,? he said during the India and ASEAN business conclave, jointly organised by the commerce ministry and Ficci.
The Malaysian trade minister said that the issue of services was also raised with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a meeting earlier in the day. He said that India-Asean trade which had reached $50 billion in 2010 could hit $70 billion in the next couple of years.
While a trade pact with Asean kick-started from January 1, 2010, there has been little progress on services. As per the initial understanding, the services liberalisation was supposed to start in tandem with goods, however due to opposition from member Asean countries it could not go through.
Citing some of the concerns, the Malaysian trade minister said that the movement of natural persons was an issue which needed to be discussed further. He, however hoped that issues would soon be resolved and a solution reached by the year-end.
?It takes time for benefits (of an FTA) to kick-in. What we have signed with Asean is an agreement on goods and we are in advanced stage of concluding negotiations in services and investments by this year,? Sharma said.