FIEO Roundtable on Doing Business with ASEAN

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations organized a Round Table on Doing Business in ASEAN with representatives from all 10 ASEAN countries on 26 June 2012. The Round Table was a forum for Indian business people to understand the opportunities that ASEAN has to offer in time of global economic slowdown due to uncertainties in the euro-zone economies.

ASEAN-India trade volume jumped 30% in 2010-2011, right after the ASEAN-India FTA came into effect. Five-thousand product lines are included in this list, of which 90% will be liberalized by 2019. Both imports and exports increased substantially and in a balanced manner. The target is to achieve 70 billion USD of two-way trade by the end of this year.

Speaking on behalf of India, Mr. Siddarth, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce said he’s confident the outstanding services and investment negotiations in the regional comprehensive partnership initiative will be concluded in the near future.  The last round of negotiations was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in June 2012.

Speaking as the Chair of ASEAN New Delhi Committee, Mr. Jonathan Tow, Acting High Commissioner of Singapore said ASEAN still has strong economic fundamentals and is an important regional market for India. Another groundbreaking development that cannot be ignored is the opening up of Myanmar’s economy, which will make ASEAN an even more dynamic region.

Ambassador Pisan Manawapat presented on the current state of the Thai economy, which has rebounded sharply since the devastating floods in 2011.  He also highlighted the Thai government’s infrastructure projects which will ensure future flood prevention and sustain Thailand’s economic progress. As for the Thai-India FTA, the next round of negotiations is due to take place in July. Along with Mr. Siddarth, he expressed confident that the talks will be wrapped up by the end of 2012.

For the Ambassador’s presentation, click here.

Chamsai Menasveta

New Delhi

27 June 2012