MR Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce, Industry & Textiles
invited his Australian counterpart Dr. Craig Emerson to India with a business
delegation by the year end. The first meeting of the CEOs' Forum will coincide
with this visit. Mr Navin Jindal from Indian side and Mr. Lindsey Fox of
Australia co-chair the forum. The two leaders met at the sidelines of the ASEAN
Economic Ministers' Summit at Manado in Indonesia today. Mr Sharma and Dr.
Emerson reviewed the progress of Indo-Australia FTA negotiations first round of
it was held in May 2011. Both the Ministers agreed to give a strong push to the
ASEAN process and take forward economic integration in Asia.
During the
bilateral meeting Mr Sharma expressed optimism on the East Asia Summit, “We
consider the East Asia Summit as an opportunity to establish a regional
architecture for cooperation, connectivity and future integration which will
bring about a strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth in the region.
For this we need to pursue the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership in
East Asia (CEPEA) vigorously”.
The Minister also took stock of the Doha
round during the meeting with his Australian counterpart. The Commerce Ministers
noted the significant increase in trade and investment between ASEAN and India
in 2010. Total trade between India and ASEAN increased by 24% in 2010, reaching
USD 51.3 billion. India's exports grew at 33% to USD 23.1 billion while imports
from ASEAN increased by 18% to USD 28.2 billion. Foreign Direct Investments
(FDI) inflows from ASEAN reached US$14.25 billion in May 2011 and accounted for
10.36% of India's total FDI.
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