India signs Trade in Services & Trade in Investments Agreement with ASEAN
Updated: Sep 10, 2014 09:55:19am
New Delhi, Sept 10 (KNN) India has formally signed the Trade in Services and Trade in Investments Agreement with ASEAN. The Services Agreement will open up opportunities of movement of both manpower and investments from either side between India and ASEAN.
Nine out of ten ASEAN countries have signed the same. Philippines is in the process of completing its domestic procedure and it is expected to sign soon, an official release said yesterday.
India-ASEAN Agreement on Trade in Goods was signed in 2009 and became effective from 2010. The Trade Agreement has boosted the total trade between India and ASEAN substantially in the past four years.
Commenting on the move, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman said the signing of the agreement in Services and Investment is reflective of India’s deep commitment to have a strong institutional architecture for economic ties with ASEAN.
As part of this economic vision, India is also part of the RCEP negotiations which are presently being discussed between ASEAN and its six partner countries.
“The Trade in Services Agreement with the ASEAN contains all features of a modern and comprehensive agreement on Services and is in line with the other bilateral agreements that India has signed so far. Some of the important Articles contained in the Agreement are ones on transparency, domestic regulations, recognition, market access, national treatment, increasing participation of developing countries, joint committee on services, review, dispute settlement and denial of benefits,” the release said.
Both India and ASEAN Member States have taken GATS plus commitments in various Services and modes of supply. Each ASEAN Member State has tabled individual schedule of commitments which are equally applicable for India and other ASEAN Member States. India on the other hand has tabled three schedules of commitments one for Philippines, one for Indonesia and one for the remaining eight ASEAN Member States.
It was also agreed by India that in order to increase participation of the least developed countries no additional requests would be tabled to the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam). All the three schedules tabled by India are well within the existing autonomous regime of India.
A brief annex on Movement of Natural persons (one of the key areas of interest for India) has been included in the Agreement. This Annex defines Business Visitors, Intra Corporate Transferees (Managers, Executives and Specialists) and Contractual Service Suppliers.
This will help provide commercially meaningful market across in ASEAN for professionals, including those from the IT/ITeS sector. Independent professionals have not been defined in the Annex. (KNN/ES)
Nine out of ten ASEAN countries have signed the same. Philippines is in the process of completing its domestic procedure and it is expected to sign soon, an official release said yesterday.
India-ASEAN Agreement on Trade in Goods was signed in 2009 and became effective from 2010. The Trade Agreement has boosted the total trade between India and ASEAN substantially in the past four years.
Commenting on the move, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman said the signing of the agreement in Services and Investment is reflective of India’s deep commitment to have a strong institutional architecture for economic ties with ASEAN.
As part of this economic vision, India is also part of the RCEP negotiations which are presently being discussed between ASEAN and its six partner countries.
“The Trade in Services Agreement with the ASEAN contains all features of a modern and comprehensive agreement on Services and is in line with the other bilateral agreements that India has signed so far. Some of the important Articles contained in the Agreement are ones on transparency, domestic regulations, recognition, market access, national treatment, increasing participation of developing countries, joint committee on services, review, dispute settlement and denial of benefits,” the release said.
Both India and ASEAN Member States have taken GATS plus commitments in various Services and modes of supply. Each ASEAN Member State has tabled individual schedule of commitments which are equally applicable for India and other ASEAN Member States. India on the other hand has tabled three schedules of commitments one for Philippines, one for Indonesia and one for the remaining eight ASEAN Member States.
It was also agreed by India that in order to increase participation of the least developed countries no additional requests would be tabled to the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam). All the three schedules tabled by India are well within the existing autonomous regime of India.
A brief annex on Movement of Natural persons (one of the key areas of interest for India) has been included in the Agreement. This Annex defines Business Visitors, Intra Corporate Transferees (Managers, Executives and Specialists) and Contractual Service Suppliers.
This will help provide commercially meaningful market across in ASEAN for professionals, including those from the IT/ITeS sector. Independent professionals have not been defined in the Annex. (KNN/ES)
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