India & Asean usher in trade pact in services, investments

Besides, India had also insisted on having at least a ‘limited’ Annex with common definitions for the various categories of natural persons on which future commitments can be made.

“Two-way flows in investments have also grown rapidly to reach $ 43 billion over the past decade. India-Asean trade has grown over 10 times in the 10 years since we launched the annual summits. Following the implementation of our FTA in goods, trade grew by 41% in Indian fiscal year of 2011-12,” Singh added.

The Prime Minister added that from energy resources to farm products, from materials to machinery, and from electronics to information technology, Indian and Asean companies are forging new partnerships of trade and investment.

Besides FTA with Asean, India is also negotiating similar market opening pacts with members of the grouping bilaterally.