Govt eyes FTAs with China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea

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Mumbai, March 20: The government on Monday said it is looking at the possibility of Free Trade Agreements with a host of nations including Japan, China and Korea, with a view to increase India’s trade with the Asian countries.

“The government is in the process of setting up a joint study group for conclusion of FTAs with Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Korea apart from examining ways to develop regional trade arrangements with China,” minister of state for industry Ashwani Kumar said at the Asia Corporate Conference.

An FTA with the Gulf Cooperation Council is also being explored, he said, adding that all these measures are in line with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s vision of creating an Asian Economic Community.

India has already signed a framework agreement on economic cooperation with Asean and a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with Singapore, Mr Kumar said, and asserted that India was determined to be a leader in the 21st century.

The country has also emerged as an attractive investment destination as was evident from a number of studies by Unctad, Goldman Sachs and AT Kearney, Mr Kumar said. He added that investments to the tune of Rs 3,54,000 crore had been proposed in 2005.

Besides, India was also becoming an ‘investing’ country itself, Mr Kumar said. The policy on Indian overseas investment has been progressively liberalised to encourage corporates to access new markets and technologies, increase global competitiveness and achieve international scale of operations, the minister added.