ENA Global 2019-09-11 10:45:31 <p><strong>New Delhi, Sept 11 (KNN)</strong> India and ASEAN Ministers, who met during the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM)-India Consultations held in Singapore this week, welcomes the recommendations of the ASEAN-India Business Council to promote potential of bilateral trade and cooperation in sectors including start-ups and MSME development.</p> <p>AEM-India Consultations was held in Bangkok this week in which Commerce &amp; Industry Minister Piyush Goyal represented India.</p> <p>India and the 10-member ASEAN countries have decided to hold a review of the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in goods to facilitate trade.</p> <p>The review will help make trade between the partner countries more user-friendly, simple and trade facilitative.</p> <p>The Ministers tasked officials to work on the details of the review and submit an update at the next Asean Economic Ministers (AEM)-India Consultations, said the joint statement issued at the end of the ongoing AEM-India Consultations in Bangkok this week.</p> <p>The Ministers welcomed the recommendations of the ASEAN-India Business Council to further promote the potential of bilateral trade through the utilization of the ASEAN-India FTA as well as cooperation in some areas of mutual interest, such as financial technology, connectivity, start-ups and innovation, empowerment of youth, and women and MSME development.</p> <p>A study conducted by NITI Aayog had revealed that Indias trade deficit with ASEAN doubled to USD 10 billion in 2017 from USD 5 billion in 2011.</p> <p>One of the reasons for the growing deficit is the low utilisation of the FTA route by Indian exporters to ASEAN countries because of difficulties faced in negotiating the rules.</p> <p>A review of the India-ASEAN FTA could help improve utilisation in India by making the pact simpler and more user-friendly, as stated.</p> <p>In the joint statement, the Ministers welcomed the recommendations of the ASEAN-India Business Council to further promote the potential of bilateral trade through the utilisation of the ASEAN-India FTA as well as cooperation in some areas of mutual interest, such as financial technology, connectivity, start-ups and innovation, empowerment of youth, and women and MSME development. <em><strong>(KNN Bureau)</strong></em></p> <p><iframe frameborder="0" height="500" id="mgiframe" src="//mg.mgid.com/mghtml/framehtml/c/k/n/knnindia.co.in.338951.html" width="100%"></iframe></p> <p>-----------------------------------------------------------</p> <p><iframe frameborder="no" scrolling="no" src="https://nativclick.com/test/3419.html" style="width:700px; height:250px;"></iframe></p> 23635 https://knnindia.co.in/news/newsdetails/global/india-and-asean-ministers-welcome-suggestions-to-promote-potential-of-bilateral-trade-in-msme-sector-start-ups-among-others 2019-09-11 10:45:31 knnindia.co.in