India to review sensitive list, says Nath
Bernama, Malaysia
India To Review Sensitive List, Says Nath
By P. Vijian
24 August 2006
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (Bernama) — Despite the tense negotiations behind doors, India said it will now study Asean’s sensitive list comprising 1,900 goods before pursuing its free trade negotiations with the 10-member grouping.
"We will be looking at the 1,900 odd (items) list that Asean has said which can be used as an indicator of Asean sensitive list against 560 of ours and see what opportunites are there," India Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told Bernama here Thursday.
He said an Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was vital as there were tremendous opportunities for Southeast Asian investors in the expanding Indian economy.
He said India has about 300 million middle class population and there are about 25 million people joining the middle class every year.
"That is (equivalent to) one Malaysia. It presents a huge opportunity for Asean countries," he said.
Similarly for India, Asean countries too have great complementary and it represents opportunities for India, Nath said.
Asean-India FTA talks slowed down after Asean rejected India’s recent exclusion list with 560 items as they did not include products that were of interest to Southeast Asian economies.
From an initial list of 1,400 items, India has pruned it to 850 and last week Indian trade negotiators presented a revised shorter list at the Senior Economic Officials Meeting, here, held ahead of the 38th Asean Economics Minister (AEM) Meeting which concluded Wednesday.
"There was little bit cough and cold on the way but now we have reached an understanding. I am confident we will move forward on this and narrow down the gap," Nath added.
