India, Singapore launch next round of free trade agreement review

India and Singapore Saturday launched the next round of review for their existing free trade agreement with a view to further boost bilateral trade and investments between the countries, the commerce ministry said. The free trade agreement, officially dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), came into force in 2005. In a FTA review, two trading partners normally discuss ways to further relax norms and rules to promote trade and investments.

The review round was launched by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and Minister of Trade Relations of Singapore S Iswaran.

"The launch of the review signals further deepening of business, economic and trade collaboration between the two countries," the ministry said in a statement.

Singapore is the second largest trading partner of India within ASEAN and India is the largest trading partner of Singapore in South Asia, with a bilateral trade of USD 17.7 billion in 2017-18.

Prabhu, who was in Singapore, also participated in the 15th ASEAN Economic Ministers-India Consultations.

In the meeting, India reaffirmed the need for review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement.

During his bilateral meeting with Hiroshige Seko, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Prabhu sought greater Japanese investments in automobiles, cargo aircraft and manufacturing sectors.