Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

12-August-2011 18:14 IST

Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce, Industry & Textiles invited his Australian counterpart Dr. Craig Emerson to India with a business delegation by the year end. The first meeting of the CEO’s Forum will coincide with this visit. Shri Navin Jindal from Indian side and Mr. Lindsey Fox of Australia co-chair the forum. The two leaders met at the sidelines of the ASEAN Economic Ministers+6 Summit at Manado in Indonesia today. Shri Sharma and Dr. Emerson reviewed the progress of Indo-Australia FTA negotiations first round of it was held in May 2011. Both the Ministers agreed to give a strong push to the ASEAN+6 process and take forward economic integration in Asia.

During the bilateral meeting Shri Sharma expressed optimism on the East Asia Summit, “We consider the East Asia Summit as an opportunity to establish a regional architecture for cooperation, connectivity and future integration which will bring about a strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth in the region. For this we need to pursue the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) vigorously”.

The Minister also took stock of the Doha round during the meeting with his Australian counterpart. Shri Sharma stated that, ”All of us have been active participants at the WTO with the common goal of early conclusion of the Doha Round. India supports a balanced, comprehensive and development-centric outcome”.

The Commerce Ministers noted the significant increase in trade and investment between ASEAN and India in 2010. Total trade between India and ASEAN increased by 24% in 2010, reaching US $ 51.3 billion. India’s exports grew at 33% to US $ 23.1 billion while imports from ASEAN increased by 18% to US $ 28.2 billion. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) inflows from ASEAN reached US$14.25 billion in May 2011 and accounted for 10.36% of India’s total FDI.

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Bilateral trade negotiations: India and Australia to convene CEO Forum and advance FTA and regional economic integration. India and Australia will hold the inaugural CEO Forum by year end with business co-chairs to deepen bilateral commercial engagement. Ministers reviewed progress on Free Trade Agreement negotiations and committed to intensify talks, support the Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) for regional integration, and seek a balanced, development centric outcome in the Doha Round while noting recent trade and FDI growth with ASEAN.