'Pacts on services, investment should follow Asean FTA'

Having submitted a revised offer to break the deadlock over the free trade negotiations with the Asean, India has now made clear that the pacts on services and investment will have to be implemented within a year of the implementation of the free trade agreement on goods.

"We are keen that negotiations for services and investment begin alongside those for goods. If the free trade agreement for goods is implemented from 2007, the agreements on services and investment should be implemented from 2008," a senior government official said.

New Delhi is now awaiting the response of the Asean to its revised offer last week in which it offered to reduce import duty on crude palm oil from 80 per cent to 50 per cent, tea from 100 per cent to 50 per cent and pepper from 70 per cent to 50 per cent over 15 years and prune the list of items on which it will offer no tariff cuts from 864 to 560.

Commerce ministry officials said the graded duty cuts being offered for palm oil, tea and pepper were advantageous to the Asean since the cuts were far steeper than what India would be willing to offer at the WTO.