NEW DELHI. FICCI as the Indian secretariat of ASEAN India Business Council (AIBC) presented recommendations of 2020 to enhance trade and investment between India and ASEAN at 52nd India AEM held virtually on Saturday.
This comes in the backdrop of the India-ASEAN trade target of US$ 200 bn trade by 2022, which now looks difficult. The meeting was chaired by H.E Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Industry and Trade, Vietnam, Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Government of India led the talks from the Indian side.
Addressing at India-ASEAN AEM, Piyush Goyal said that India and ASEAN are the service-oriented economies, and this is one of the sectors affected by the pandemic. We must adopt an open approach to collaborate and operate in the services sector. Emphasizing on reviewing ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), the Minister mentioned that the Indian Industry is disappointed and reiterated India’s request for an immediate review of the agreement and to harmonised the text with modern trade practices and make the arrangement more balanced and equitable.
Dr. Sangita Reddy, Co-Chair AIBC (India) reiterated the quote of Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, that India and ASEAN are two bright spots of optimism. She further said that India and ASEAN should develop a roadmap for collaboration in Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals sectors along with knowledge exchange and digital connectivity. She shared that special incentives for Indian Pharmaceutical companies should be introduced for setting up plants in dedicated ASEAN zones.
Dr. Reddy, further recommended that India and ASEAN facilitate greater knowledge sharing and best practices, collaborative research, capacity building, and training programs in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Big data, and Blockchain, especially focusing on financial services, health tech, and transportation, etc. This will help us achieve long term economic growth and positive social outcomes.
AIBC recommends reviewing AITIGA and considering the elimination of non- tariff measures to enable seamless movement of goods and services. To build on India- ASEAN partnership, we must address the trade barriers, policy, regulation, and issues related to infrastructure and investment. AIBC also recommended that ASEAN should consider introducing business travel cards which would facilitate business travel between India and ASEAN countries, with at least 90 days of validity.
Dato Ramesh Kodammal, Co-Chair AIBC (ASEAN) said that the business community of ASEAN and India has tremendous partnership potential to take this economic engagement to greater heights. From the ASEAN side, Dato Kodammal said that a review of AITIGA is critical as India’s participation at RCEP is still not certain. He also emphasised that Rules of Origin norms between India and ASEAN need to be discussed as part of the negotiations.
