India - ASEAN FTA postponed

The free trade agreement between Indian and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) scheduled to be signed on 27 February has been postponed at least till April due to disagreement on the road map for duty cuts, minister for commerce and industry Kamal Nath said .According to the agreement arrived at after negotiations concluded in August, both sides have agreed to reduce or eliminate tariffs on 95% of the commodities in the trade basket over the next nine years. If the agreement were to be signed later this month as per schedule, the first phase of reduction would start in June, to be followed by another one in January 2010. This would have meant India would cut duties twice in six months, which is not acceptable to India.
The free trade agreement between Indian and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) scheduled to be signed on 27 February has been postponed at least till April due to disagreement on the road map for duty cuts, minister for commerce and industry Kamal Nath said on Friday. According to the agreement arrived at after negotiations concluded in August, both sides have agreed to reduce or eliminate tariffs on 95% of the commodities in the trade basket over the next nine years. If the agreement were to be signed later this month as per schedule, the first phase of reduction would start in June, to be followed by another one in January 2010. This would have meant India would cut duties twice in six months, which is not acceptable to India.