SME Times News Bureau | 06 Sep, 2019
Union Minister of Commerce
& Industry Piyush Goyal will attend the 7th RCEP Ministerial
Meeting, 16th ASEAN India Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting and the 7th
East Asia Economic Ministers Summit being held in Bangkok from 8-10 September
2019.
The
meetings will be attended by Economic Ministers and senior leaders
of ten ASEAN member countries and eight East Asia Summit (EAS) countries.
Engagement with
ASEAN is at the core of India’s ‘Act East’ policy. ASEAN is the gateway to the
Indian Ocean region and as close partners, there is convergence of views in
India’s and ASEAN outlook in the region.
Trade and
investment relations between India and ASEAN continue to show remarkable
growth. India’s bilateral trade jumped threefold from USD 21 billion in 2005-06
to USD 96.7 billion in 2018-19.
ASEAN countries
together have emerged as the largest trading partner of India in 2018-19
(followed by USA), with a share of 11.47 % in India’s overall trade, while
India was ASEAN’s sixth largest trading partner in 2018.
Investment flows
are also substantial both ways. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
inflows into India from ASEAN between April 2018 to March 2019 was about USD
16.41 billion which is approximately 36.98 % of total FDI flow into India. FDI
inflows from India to ASEAN in 20018 amounted to USD 1.7 billion, placing India
as ASEAN’s sixth largest source of FDI.
The EAS meeting
will discuss regional and global economic developments and ASEAN’s outlook on the Indo-Pacific regions. Matters
related to promotion of trade and investment among the partner countries will
also be discussed in the India ASEAN AEM and EAS-EMM meetings.
Piyush Goyal is
also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Japan,
Singapore, China, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand and
Russia.