New Delhi (VNA) – ASEAN countries and India held the 4th joint committee meeting for the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) from May 7-9 in Putrajaya, Malaysia, according to the India’s Department of Commerce.
Additional Secretary of the department Rajesh Agrawal and Deputy Secretary General (Trade) of Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry Mastura Ahmad Mustafa co-chaired the meeting.
The discussions for review of AITIGA, to make it more trade-facilitative and beneficial for businesses across the region, started in May 2023. The joint committee undertaking the review work has met four times so far. The committee finalised its Terms of Reference and the Negotiating Structure for the review negotiations in its first two meetings and initiated the negotiations for review of AITIGA from its third meeting held from February 18-19 in New Delhi.
AITIGA was signed in 2009. In September 2022, both sides tasked the AITIGA joint committee to conduct a review to make the agreement more trade-friendly and mutually beneficial.
Eight sub-committees have been established to address the various policy areas of the Agreement during its review. Five of the sub-commitees have started discussions and delivered the discussion results at the 4th AITIGA Joint Committee.
Four of these Sub-Committees convened in person in Putrajaya, Malaysia, dealing with issues relating to “National Treatment and Market Access,” “Rules of Origin,” “Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures,” and “Legal and Institutional Issues.”
The next meeting of the joint committee is expected to take place in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 29–31.
ASEAN is one of India’s main trading partners with an 11% share of India’s global trade. In 2023–2024, their bilateral commerce reached 122.67 billion USD. Bilateral trade is expected to increase even more as a result of the AITIGA upgrade./.
