India and Thailand have asked their commerce ministers to sort out "few" outstanding issues in the proposed comprehensive market opening trade pact and preferably conclude negotiations by October.
"We have directed our ministers to quickly resolve the few outstanding issues to achieve a comprehensive and balanced India-Thailand FTA at the earliest," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said after exhaustive talks with his counterpart from Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra here today.
The commerce ministers have been asked to firm up the free trade agreement (FTA) preferably by October this year, Ashok Kantha, Secretary East in the External Affairs Ministry told reporters after the Singh-Yingluck meeting.
He said the two sides were working at going beyond trade and services and making the FTA more comprehensive.
India and Thailand have already abolished customs duties on 82 items under an 'Early Harvest Scheme' (EHS). The EHS is the initial phase of the proposed comprehensive FTA.
A joint statement by the two Prime Ministers said: "Given the emerging convergence on most issues, both sides expressed hope that the negotiations be concluded soon after the next round of negotiations (for FTA) in June-July 2013 in Bangkok."
The two Prime Ministers, the statement, reaffirmed their strong commitment to achieve a comprehensive and balanced outcome of the Thailand-India FTA negotiations.
Singh and Yingluck advised their respective negotiators to show the required flexibility in concluding the long pending negotiations to give a further fillip to the bilateral trade, which has shown healthy growth even during the current economic slowdown.
Over the past five years, India's trade with the ASEAN country increased at over 15 per cent per annum. Last year, it crossed USD 8.6 billion. Both sides hoped that bilateral trade would continue to further expand for the mutual benefit and sustainable economic growth of both countries.
Singh was here in the second leg of his two-nation tour.
