A day after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao smoked the peace pipe, New Delhi today said it was in discussion with Beijing for a free trade agreement aimed at breaking the duty barriers for bilateral trade.
“We have signed a comprehensive economic partnership pacts with Singapore and the Republic of Korea and recently a trade in goods agreements with the Asean. We are in discussions with Japan, China, Thailand and Malaysia and other countries to conclude agreements of a similar nature,” Singh said at the 4th East Asia Summit.
Faced with a huge trade imbalance in favour of China, the Indian industry is strongly against signing any FTA-like agreement with the neighbouring country.
The commerce ministry has launched the highest number of investigations against China for dumping its goods in the Indian market.
Against exports of $9.26 billion, imports from China into India totalled $31.33 billion in financial year 2008-09.
India is also in favour of creating a large Asian trade and investment community, while the Prime Minister said the focus should, at present, be on creating of the domestic demand at the time of global financial crisis. However, at the government various study groups have been initiated.
“Our focus should be on generation of stronger domestic demand in Asian economies through investment in infrastructure creation and strengthening of social welfare,” Singh said.
Singh and Wen yesterday agreed that the two countries should handle carefully the differences over the borders, which should not be allowed to act as impediments for harmony and cooperation.
It was important for the two fastest growing economies in the world to live in harmony to ensure that the present century belongs to Asia, both the leaders had agreed.
Singh said the vision of Asian economic integration by coalescing the FTAs among member Asian countries into an Asian Regional Trade Agreement was a pivotal step towards the integration of Asia into a common unit.
“This can lead to the creation of a broader Asian Economic Community,” he said, adding there was a need to move forward in this direction and “exhibit the requisite political will”.
Look East
Keen to tap the booming services market in Southeast Asia, India has pressed for an early conclusion of talks with the 10-member Asean on trade in services and investments to create an Asian economic community.
“We attach high importance to the early conclusion of negotiations on the trade in services and investment agreement and we should direct our officials accordingly,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at the 7th India-ASEAN summit here last evening.
Green technologies
Describing climate change as a major challenge, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today highlighted the need for a global mechanism to develop environment-friendly technologies and ensuring their availability to developing nations at an affordable cost.
Addressing the fourth East Asian Summit here, Singh noted that the issue of climate change was “a major challenge” facing the world, but it is particularly so for the developing and fast growing economies in Asia.
Stimulus packages
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the time was not ripe for the withdrawal of stimulus packages given by the government to bail out economy from the impact of the global financial meltdown.
“Time is not ripe for withdrawal of stimulus packages,” he told reporters here after conclusion of twin summits of Asean and East Asian leaders.
