India set to open up trade in services with APTA members

NEW DELHI: The government is understood to have approved India's commitment to opening up trade in commercial services and investment with members of the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), including China.

APTA, earlier known as the Bangkok Agreement, is the oldest but least known Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) among the developing countries of Asia Pacific. Signed in 1975, its members include Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka.

"The Cabinet has approved the signing of the APTA in trade in services, investment and trade facilitation," a senior Commerce Ministry official told PTI.

With bulk of its economy dependent on services, India is looking for new markets for its professionals in a wide range of areas like IT, para-medical and English language teaching.

The coverage in PTA in terms of duty concessions and number of products is far less than the Free Trade Agreement under which an overwhelming majority (almost 90 per cent) of trade is covered.

India and China, world's fastest growing economies, account for bulk of the trade among the APTA countries.

For an FTA between India and China there is a strong resistance from the domestic Indian industry which feels that the bilateral trade imbalance may worsen. In 2009, China had a trade surplus of USD 16 billion over India.