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ASEAN, India step up trade cooperation

Economic ministers from ASEAN member countries and India pledged to continue promoting trade ties at their 10 th consultative meeting in Cambodia on August 31.
Economic ministers from ASEAN member countries and India pledged to continue promoting trade ties at their 10 th consultative meeting in Cambodia on August 31.

Within the framework of the 44 th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Siem Reap, the eventwas co-chaired by Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh andIndian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textile Anand Sharma.

At the event, the participants expressed their pleasure at the growth in bilateral trade ties, with India becoming ASEAN’s sixth largest partner and two-way trade reaching 68.4 billion USD last year, up 23.4 percent from 2010.

They asked the two sides’ working groups to review the results of the ASEAN – India commodity trade agreement, with a view to stepping up bilateral trade activities.

They also discussed the negotiations on service and investment. The discussion’s results will be submitted to the ASEAN – India summit in December.-VNA
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