NEW DELHI: India must actively take part in the East Asian Summit (EAS) with the aim of becoming part of an Asian Economic Community that could evolve into a trade bloc comparable to the European Union (EU). This proposal has been made by the think-tank Research and Information Systems (RIS) which argues that it is of "critical importance" for India to take part in the summits and secure preferential access for Indian manufacturing industry to some of the world's largest and most dynamic markets.

In its latest report on an employment-oriented export strategy released here on Friday by the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, RIS says "strategic access to markets has become an important factor of competitiveness. It is pushing countries all over the world to set up free trade areas (FTAs) and regional trade arrangements (RTAs) to get preferential access to markets. India has taken steps to evolve such arrangements with ASEAN, Thailand and Singapore and is part of emerging SAFTA and BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand) free trade areas, it concedes.

The think-tank, however, feels that India's trade policy has to take cognisance of the growing economic integration of East Asian countries that is now seeking to build an East Asian Community (EAC). India has already participated in the first EAS held in Kuala Lumpur in December last year along with the ASEAN plus three (China, South Korea and Japan) and Australia and New Zealand. "This forum should be used to evolve a broader Asian RTA involving all EAS participants", it says.

Referring to trade barriers on labour-intensive goods, the report says that India should actively participate in the World Trade Organisation talks on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) to bring down these barriers. It notes that labour intensive goods such as textiles, garments, leather goods and food products that need to be focused on for employment generation are also the sectors which have the highest incidence of peak tariffs and non-tariff barriers. The need for India to actively take part in trade talks has become even more critical, it says, since in the post-Hong Kong scenario, least developed countries such as Bangladesh get duty-free and quota-free treatment from developed countries.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail