Goyal urges Asean to remove barriers, curb misuse of FTAs
NEW DELHI: Trade minister Piyush Goyal on Friday called upon the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to do away with non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and curb the misuse of free trade agreements (FTAs) by third parties, often outside the region.
“It is unfortunate” that recently “we had to deal with several restrictive barriers on our exports to Asean, particularly in agriculture and auto. I think this only results in reciprocal action from other countries, including India and will hurt the long-term desire of our leaders to expand trade between the two countries,” Goyal said at a special plenary with trade ministers of the region organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry. Goyal also called upon Asean to allow reciprocal FTA concessions to import from India to correct the trade imbalance in favour of Asean.
“India has been witnessing exponential growth in imports from Asean, while our exports have been impeded by non-reciprocity in FTA concessions, NTBs, import regulations, quotas and export taxes from Asean. Such a review will enable alignment with contemporary trade practices, procedures and regulatory harmonization,” he said.
He reiterated the importance of fair, equitable, transparent, reciprocal and inclusive trade rather than trade through tariff reductions.
“Let me also underscore that if we were to review the AseanIndia Trade In Goods Agreement (AITIGA), it may truly promote trade on both sides, support industry and manufacturing on both sides and help us support each other to truly become modern, progressive economies,” he said. “Despite increasing trade, we are short of the target of $200 billion that India and Asean were to achieve by 2022,” Goyal said.