India, ASEAN businesses need to work to resolve differences, expand trade: Goyal

28 Aug 2020 Evaluate

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that business communities of India and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) should work to resolve their differences, work to create a more valuable and trusted regional value chains, remove the non-tariff barriers on both sides, ensure sanctity of rules of origin, and open markets to expand two-way trade. He said ‘both the sides need to work together to further this relationship as two-way trade is witnessing signs of decline from $81 billion to $77 billion, probably the first time we saw a 5 per cent de-growth’.

Goyal said India and ASEAN have not been able to harness the full trade potential for various reasons, but now is the time to expand trade, address concerns and resolve differences. He also said the business council meeting is a good forum to discuss concerns and best practices, share ideas, and flag the problems. He noted that the two sides have not yet been able to start the review of free trade agreement in goods. He added that businesses can play the role of a bridge to help resolve the issues amicably and quickly.

The minister further said problems that do not resolve in a quick time frame have the risk of expanding and sometimes growing beyond control, beyond repair. He said so businesses of both the sides should work together, embrace each other, and embrace each others' problems to resolve them. He pointed out that the two-way trade has increased from $57 billion in 2010 to only $ 77 billion in about nearly 9-10 years, which does not present an exciting picture.

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