Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. (Photo: Reuters) New Delhi (VNA) – Business communities of India and ASEAN should work toresolve their differences, remove non-tariff barriers, ensure sanctity of rulesof origin and open markets to expand two-way trade, Indian Commerce andIndustry Minister Piyush Goyal said on August 27.
Addressing theASEAN-India Business Council, Goyal said both the sides need to work togetherto further advance the bilateral relationship as two-way trade is witnessingsigns of decline from 81 billion USD to 77 billion USD.
It is probablythe first time the two countries saw a 5-percent de-growth, he said.
He said Indiaand ASEAN have not been able to harness the full trade potential for variousreasons, but now is the time to expand trade, address concerns and resolvedifferences.
Goyal said itis important that businesses of both sides work to resolve differences, create a more valuable and trustedregional value chains, remove the non-tariff barriers on both sides, ensuresanctity of rules of origin, and open markets to expand trade, as people say,“it takes two hands to clap”.
Goyal highlyspoke of the business council meeting, saying it is a good forum to discussconcerns and best practices, share ideas, and flag the problems.
The Indian ministersaid the two sides have not yet been able to start the review of free tradeagreement in goods.
Two-way tradehas increased from 57 billion USD in 2010 to only 77 billion USD in about nearly9-10 years, which does not present an exciting picture, Goyal said./.
VNA
