The Hindu : Business : Kamal Nath to represent ASEAN summit in Thailand

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Tuesday, Apr 07, 2009
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Kamal Nath to represent ASEAN summit in Thailand

Special Correspondent

Fee Trade Agreement unlikely to be signed.

NEW DELHI: Although Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath will represent India at the ASEAN-India and the East Asia summits in Thailand on April 11 and 12, there is no sign of New Delhi and the 10-nation Southeast Asia trading bloc inking the long delayed Fee Trade Agreement (FTA).

Mr. Nath will represent Prime Minister Manmoham Singh at the two meetings at Pattaya in Thailand as India would be looking forward in various cooperation initiatives with ASEAN, including FTA,” a statement issued by the Commerce Ministry said here on Monday.

However, as the country is faced with general elections, there is a considered view that only the new Government at the Centre should sign the FTA with the ASEAN member countries.

Though negotiations on the market-opening trade pact were completed in August last, it could not be signed as differences on duty cuts and market protection for certain items, particularly relating to agriculture, cropped up later.

A notable feature of the East Asia Summit comprising ASEAN, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand this time would be a focus session with heads of international institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. These multilateral institutions have received a big boost from the G-20 Summit last week in London where leaders of the developed and emerging economies agreed to treble resources of IMF to $750 billion for helping developing countries cope up with the impact of the global downturn.

The summits are held annually by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attended by Heads of states of the ten ASEAN member countries and its dialogue partners such as Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.

India-ASEAN trade was $38.37 billion in 2007-08 with a compounded annual growth rate of 27 per cent since 2000, the statement said.

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