India, Asean FTA talks to conclude by Sept-end

Negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the 10 -member Asean bloc is likely to conclude by the end of September 2007.

"We hope to conclude the negotiations by September and an announcement is likely during the Asean summit to be held in the third week of November at Singapore," commerce secretary Gopal K Pillai said today.

Pillai further added that negotiations on the proposed Asean FTA were at an advanced stage.

Meanwhile, Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of Asean, said in Manila : "We're hoping to have some agreement at this coming summit in Singapore. It's not easy, because of the gap that's still there, but we hope to get some political momentum."

Asean officials have been maintaining that India needed to take out petroleum products from the negative list of goods in which import tariffs are not eliminated. Negotiators of both the parties were also trying to arrive at a consensus on the tariff elimination status of palm oil, coffee, tea and pepper, which were vital for the domestic industry in India.