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New Delhi : Economic Ministers from ten ASEAN Member States and the Commerce and Industry Minister of India met on September 10, 2019, at Bangkok in Thailand for the sixteenth Asean Economic Ministers (AEM)-India Consultations. The Consultations were co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Commerce, Thailand, Jurin Laksanawisit, and Railways and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
The Ministers noted that, based on preliminary ASEAN data, 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. 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. They 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. They 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. The Ministers tasked officials to work on the details of the review and submit an update at the 17th AEM-India Consultations, according to a PIB release.