Asean-India trade review high on priority: Govt

New Delhi : The government Friday said that the review of the Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) is ‘high on our priority’ to make the pact more ‘user-friendly, simple, and trade-facilitative for businesses’.

“ASEAN is one of India’s most important trading partners. For the last two consecutive years, ASEAN has been India's second largest trading partner,” commerce and industry ministry said in a statement, amid economic ministers of India and the 10-member ASEAN or Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Laos to review the progress in negotiations of the trade pact.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal is visiting the Southeast Asian nation on September 20–21.


The AITIGA came into force in January 2010. In August 2023, both sides announced the aim to complete the review of the existing agreement in goods between the two regions by 2025.

Asean comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

As per the statement, Goyal will also attend the 12th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers' Meeting.

“The ministers will deliberate on regional and global economic developments,” the ministry said.