The Global Quest ; the Pact with Asean Could Well Signal the Advent of the Force Multiplier Effect in Trade, but It's Not All Rosy Going.

Summary

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Call it a historic landmark or a potential economic bonanza. On the face of it, the India-Asean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is in every way a win-win deal. It is India's first real entry into a formidable regional trading bloc which is one of the world's largest. The FTA opens up the coveted $1.1-trillion Asean market to India's exporters as tariffs come down to zero on 4,000 items of bilateral trade, starting from January 1, 2010.

At a larger level, this also marks the culmination of India's efforts over the past decade to frame a durable Look East policy. "The agreement with Asean is well-balanced and is in harmony with India's Look East policy," agrees Anand Sharma, Union minister for commerce and industry. "The interests of India's plantation sector have been fully protected. The Group of Ministers (GoM) will look into what more needs to be done to restore that sector," he adds.

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The Global Quest ; the Pact with Asean Could Well Signal the Advent of the Force Multiplier Effect in Trade, but It's Not All Rosy Going.

The FTA with Asean and the recent one with Korea are symbolic of India's ambitious agenda of strategic tie-ups in the world through FTAs. India now has 17 more FTAs on its platter, of which only 10 have reached the dialogue table. These include agreements with the European Union (EU), European Free Trade Association and South ...

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