India-ASEAN
Over a period of five years, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) negotiated a bilateral free trade agreement — with plenty of difficulty.
Under their initial bilateral framework agreement, signed in Bali on 8 October 2003, the India-ASEAN FTA for goods was supposed to be finalised by 30 June 2005. Negotiations on services would start in 2005 and end in 2007.
After a year’s delay, discussions ground to a halt in June 2006 when India released its ’negative list’ of items to be excluded from tariff reductions — with 900 products, both industrial and agricultural, figuring on the list. (This was down from India’s initial negative list of 1,410 items.) India’s agriculture ministry, in particular, was arguing hard to exclude commodities like rubber, pepper, tea, coffee and palm oil from the deal. Rules of origin have been the other thorny issue.
Two months later, in August 2006, Delhi issued a revised list, pruned down to 560 items. However, tremendous fears about the impacts of the India-ASEAN FTA on farmers continued to rattle the discussion.
By early 2007, in the midst of the new biofuels boom, palm oil became a central blockage point as Indonesia and Malaysia, both top palm oil exporters, struggled to get India to lower its tariffs.
On 28 August 2008, a deal was finally concluded. The agreement was signed in 2009 and took effect (trade in goods) with 5 of the countries and India in January 2010, (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand). India is pushing – without much apparent process – for a services liberalization deal with the ASEAN countries.
last update: May 2012
Articles
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29-Aug-2012 India, ASEAN to review talks on FTA in services and investments
Trade ministers of India and 10-member ASEAN will review the progress of ongoing negotiations to widen the base of free trade agreement between them by including services and investments. -
10-Jun-2012 ‘India-Asean FTA has more potential for bilateral trade’
Hyderabad/The India-Asean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is under-utilised, as it has more potential for increasing bilateral trade, according to Mr Vichael Angelo, Commercial Attache, the Philippines Department of Trade & Industry. -
23-Nov-2011 Services sector deal with asean bloc stuck
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will reach Bali on Thursday to hold meetings with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and attend the East Asia Summit over the weekend, but a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the 10-member regional bloc remains elusive. -
19-Nov-2011 PM sets March 2012 deadline for services FTA with Asean
There are few places in Southeast Asia that carry as deep an imprint of India’s civilisational links as Bali, a majority Hindu island in a country that has the world’s largest Islamic population. -
26-Sep-2011 FTA with Asean hurting domestic market, reveals Ficci survey
The India-Asean Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect from January 2010, has been a mixed bag so far. While more opportunities have opened up for Indian industries, in terms of greater market access for their products in the Asean region, the duty reduction on imports from Asean countries, in turn, has hit India’s domestic market. -
17-Aug-2011 Economic Times Philippines refuse to open up its services market to Indian professionals
The Philippines has refused to make any meaningful offer to open up its services market to Indian professionals, thus playing the spoilsport in the recent India-Asean services negotiations in Indonesia. -
10-Aug-2011 Business Standard Sharma to push Asean on services deal this week
Trade ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and India’s minister of commerce and industry, Anand Sharma, meet this week to push the much-awaited services trade deal, that got stuck over the issue of movement of professionals. -
15-Mar-2011 Philippines to ratify Indo-Asean FTA soon
After more than a year since the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) became operational, it is now approaching consolidation. -
3-Mar-2011 Indian parts firms eye FTA potential
Indian auto-parts makers and renewable-energy firms are looking to Thailand as an investment hub for Southeast Asia because of the privileges offered under the Asean-India free-trade agreement, says India’s largest industrial group. -
3-Mar-2011 Fear of Indian pros holding up services deal: Malaysia
The proposed agreement between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to open up investments and services sector has met with resistance from some members of the 10-nation bloc who are concerned that free movement of professionals will impact their own workforce. -
2-Mar-2011 India, Asean to ink economic pact by year-end: Anand Sharma
India will sign a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) by the end of this year, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said Wednesday. -
4-Jan-2011 IIFL India pushing for services pacts with individual Asean members
Changing its strategy, India is aiming to enter comprehensive bilateral trade agreements with more individual members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, as a services agreement with the multilateral body remains elusive. -
15-Dec-2010 India-Asean services deal hits roadblock
The negotiations to conclude a services and investment deal under the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the Asean countries have hit a stonewall. -
8-Dec-2010 Negotiating services with ASEAN
What can India do to show flexibility while safeguarding its core market access interests? A solution seems to present itself from the experience of the recently implemented ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA. -
30-Aug-2010 Govt to soon implement FTA with Indonesia, Cambodia
India will soon implement the free trade agreement (FTA) in goods with two more Asean countries — Indonesia, Cambodia — by slashing duties on hundreds of products including seafood, chemicals, apparel and tyres. In turn the two countries will also slash import duties on hundreds of Indian goods. -
27-Aug-2010 India-ASEAN services, investment pact negotiations reviewed
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma met commerce ministers from ten ASEAN Member States at Da Nang, Vietnam, today to review India-ASEAN services and investment agreement negotiations. -
16-Aug-2010 In pursuit of mutual prosperity
Asia’s re-emergence as a global economic powerhouse is creating a greater degree of economic interdependence while at the same time helping to increase regional security among the Asean member nations. -
21-Apr-2010 Economic Times Goods pact in hand, Asean goes slow on services deal
Having secured a good deal in merchandise trade in the free trade agreement, the ten-member Asean is dragging its feet on meeting India’s demand for liberalising trade in services and investments, especially movement of professionals. -
22-Feb-2010 Indian FTAs may hit SE Asian ryots
While India mulls another free trade agreement (FTA) with Australia and New Zealand, its FTAs with European Union and Japan remains shrouded in uncertainty with its decisions regarding intellectual property (IP) rights likely to impact not just India, but other developing South East Asian countries as well. -
16-Feb-2010 The Hindu FTA with ASEAN to be widened
India and the ten-member ASEAN block will hold parleys on ways to conclude talks before the August 2010 deadline to widen the scope of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to include services and investment expected to provide huge opportunity to Indian professionals to work in Southeast Asia.
