India-Asean trade pact on services unlikely during WTO meet

BALI: India and Asean nations are unlikely to sign the free trade agreement on services and investments on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial meet here as some members of the 10-nation economic bloc have raised concerns on certain issues.

Some Asean members like Thailand are not agreed on a few issues of the agreement, sources said here.

"It (the pact) is unlikely to be signed here," said a source.

In October, a joint statement - issued after a meeting of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - had said the agreement would be signed on the sidelines of the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference here.

The agreement, if implemented, will help boost movement of Indian professionals in the Asean region. It will also facilitate more investments in services sector.

The Indian Cabinet had discussed the pact last week. After operationalising a free trade pact in goods in 2011, both the sides were engaged in widening the base of the pact by including services as well as investments.

Trade between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations was about USD 76 billion in 2012-13. Both the sides aim to increase it to USD 100 billion by 2015.

The Asean members are: Brunei, Combodia, Indonesida, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma is here for the WTO's Ministerial Conference which would start tomorrow.