SME Times News Bureau | 10 Sep, 2019
A joint statement of the 16th AEM-India
Consultations revealed that two-way merchandise trade between ASEAN and India
grew by 9.8 per cent from USD 73.6 billion in 2017 to USD 80.8 billion in 2018.
Economic Ministers from ten ASEAN Member States
and the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of India (“the
Ministers”) met on 10 September 2019 at Bangkok in Thailand for the sixteenth
AEM-India Consultations.
The Consultations were co-chaired by Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister of Commerce, Thailand, Jurin Laksanawisit and Minister of
Railways and Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal.
The Ministers were also pleased to note the
recovery of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows from India in 2018,
amounting to USD 1.7 billion.
This placed India as ASEAN’s sixth largest
trading partner and sixth largest source of FDI among ASEAN Dialogue Partners.
According to India’s preliminary data, FDI
inflows into India from ASEAN in 2018 was USD 16.41 billion, approximately
36.98 per cent of total FDI flow into India.
The Ministers were pleased to note the
ratification of the ASEAN-India Trade in Services Agreement by all Parties in
2018.
The Ministers also noted the on-going efforts for
the ratification of the ASEAN-India Investment Agreement and looked forward to
the full ratification by all Parties as soon as possible.
The Ministers agreed to initiate the review of
the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) to make the AIFTA more
user-friendly, simple, and trade facilitative for businesses and to constitute
a Joint Committee, as provided in Article 17 of the AITIGA, for this purpose.
They tasked officials to work on the details of
the review and submit an update at the 17th AEM-India Consultations.
The Ministers commended the outcomes of the
4th India-ASEAN Expo and Summit held on 21-23 February 2019 in New
Delhi, India.
The Ministers noted that the event provided an
ideal platform for investors, business leaders, industry captains and policy
makers to enhance their engagements in further facilitating mutual trade and
investment.
In this regard, the ASEAN Economic Ministers
encouraged for the promotion of this event to business communities in ASEAN as
an effective platform for discussions, exchange of ideas, and buyer-seller
matching.
The Ministers welcomed the recommendations of the
ASEAN-India Business Council to further promote the potential of bilateral
trade through the utilisation of ASEAN-India FTA as well as cooperation
in some areas of mutual interest such as financial technology (FinTech),
connectivity, start-ups, and innovation, empowerment of youth and women, and
MSMEs development.
The Ministers also expressed their support for
the Fourth ASEAN-India Business Summit and Business Excellence Award, which
will be held in Manila in October 2019.