India had to engage Asean urgently or let the trading block forever be under the influence of China. And the prime minister had little time to make his move
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On August 10, an Indian expert on trade agreements received a call from the commerce ministry. India was going to sign the long-pending Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asia (Asean), a powerful bloc of 10 Asian countries, two months before the October date initially expected.
The next day, the official flew out to Thailand to assist Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his team who were already holding hectic parleys with their Asean counterparts. Two days later, India signed its most comprehensive trade deal yet, committing to bring down import tariffs on 80 percent of the commodities it traded with Asean.
Asean’s members — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia — and the six countries that the grouping wants to integrate the regional trade with (China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia) are home to about half the world’s population, account for about $9.4 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) and form the fastest growing region in the world.
The signing of the deal was the culmination of six-year-long talks punctuated by rivals’ attempts to delay India’s entry into the trade bloc as well as internal pressures that kept the government’s hands bound. This time, India came down from some of its long-held positions to push through the deal. And, the run-up to the signing was actually kept quiet to avoid domestic pressures from building up. Even Cabinet ministers such as A.K. Antony had reservations. But there was one man in the Cabinet who wanted the deal desperately: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The closest window available was a ministerial meeting set for mid-August in Thailand, the current chair of Asean. India had to act fast, the outgoing commerce secretary G.K. Pillai had told the PM. FULL STORY
The next day, the official flew out to Thailand to assist Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and his team who were already holding hectic parleys with their Asean counterparts. Two days later, India signed its most comprehensive trade deal yet, committing to bring down import tariffs on 80 percent of the commodities it traded with Asean.
Asean’s members — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia — and the six countries that the grouping wants to integrate the regional trade with (China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia) are home to about half the world’s population, account for about $9.4 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) and form the fastest growing region in the world.
The signing of the deal was the culmination of six-year-long talks punctuated by rivals’ attempts to delay India’s entry into the trade bloc as well as internal pressures that kept the government’s hands bound. This time, India came down from some of its long-held positions to push through the deal. And, the run-up to the signing was actually kept quiet to avoid domestic pressures from building up. Even Cabinet ministers such as A.K. Antony had reservations. But there was one man in the Cabinet who wanted the deal desperately: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The closest window available was a ministerial meeting set for mid-August in Thailand, the current chair of Asean. India had to act fast, the outgoing commerce secretary G.K. Pillai had told the PM. FULL STORY
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