Differences crop up in Cabinet meeting on FTA with ASEAN

NEW DELHI: The issue of India signing a free trade agreement in services and investments with the ASEAN generated much heat in the meeting of the Union Cabinet following reported differences between Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.

Sources said Chidambaram felt Sharma should have consulted the Finance Ministry over the agreement likely to be signed next month in Bali where WTO members are scheduled to meet for the ninth ministerial conference.

The agreement is to boost movement of Indian professionals in the 10-nation ASEAN which include countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and also to facilitate investments.

While Sharma said meetings were held with Finance Ministry, Chidambaram is believed to have produced the minutes of the meetings to prove his point.

Sources said that Chidambaram pointed out in the meeting that the Commerce Ministry held several meetings to discuss the issue but Finance Ministry was not kept in the loop.

Law Minister Kapil Sibal also reportedly backed Chidambaram on the issue.

After operationalising a free trade pact in goods in 2011, both India and ASEAN were engaged in widening the base of the pact by including services and investments.

Trade between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) stands at about $76 billion in 2012-13.

Both the sides have aimed at increasing it to $100 billion by 2015.

The other ASEAN countries are Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia.