Lok Sabha Question No. 1205 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-07
Subject: FTAs/PTAs with Countries
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: P.R. SUNDARAM

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1205 TO BE ANSWERED ON 7 TH  DECEMBER, 2015

## FTAS/PTAS WITH COUNTRIES

## 1205. SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- a) the  details  of  countries  with  which  India  has  entered  into  Free  Trade  Agreements (FTAs)/Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements/ Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) along with the total trade with FTA partner countries including ASEAN  countries  during  the  last  three  years  and  the  current  year  along  with  the names of the countries including European Union and USA with which Government is in talk to enter into FTA;
- b) whether  the  Government  has  made  any  assessment/evaluation  or  proposes  to  make any  review  of  the  impact  of  FTAs  signed  with  various  countries  including  the ASEAN countries and if so, the details thereof;
- c) whether FTAs have resulted in preferential imports from FTA partner countries and the export from the country has declined and if so, the details thereof indicating items that have recorded major increase in imports during the said period;
- d) whether any misuse or abuse of the FTA provisions have been reported during the above period and if so, the details thereof; and
- e) the measures taken by the Government to boost exports as well as protect domestic industries and agricultural sector from the adverse impact of import?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज् य एवं उद्योग राज् य मंत्री )श्रीमती निममला सीतारमि((स्वतंत्र प्रभार )

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)

(SMT. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)

- (a) The details of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)/Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements (CECAs)/Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (CEPA) and Preferential Trade Agreements entered into by India is given in  Annexure  1  and  Annexure  2  respectively.  The  total  trade  with  the  FTA  partner countries/block of countries, including ASEAN countries, during the last three years and current  years (upto September, 2015) is given in Annexure 3. The name of the countries/blocks with which Government is negotiating FTA is given in Annexure -4. There is no proposal for entering into an FTA with USA.
- (b)&(c):  Assessment  evaluation  of  FTAs  is  a  continuous  process  which  starts  even  before FTA negotiations are entered into. Before entering into negotiations with its trading partners, studies are undertaken internally, as well as through the Joint Study Group (JSG)  to  study  the  feasibility  of  the  proposed  FTAs,  including  their  impact  on  the domestic  stakeholders  including  the  Apex  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  Industry, Industry Associations as well as the Administrative Ministries and Departments. An analysis based on the available preferential import data from some key FTA partners reveals  that  the  percentage  of  overall  preferential  imports  are  low  in  relation  to  the overall  imports  from  these  partners.  However,  share  of  preferential  imports  to  total imports is significant with some trading partners in specific sectors such as iron and steel, plastics and organic chemicals.
- (d) Misuse of FTA provisions has been alleged in certain cases. These, inter-alia, include issues in imports of flat panel television and gold jewelry from Thailand; import of cold rolled stainless steel flat products from ASEAN region; apples from Afghanistan; marble from Sri Lanka and betelnuts under SAFTA/SAPTA/India-Sri Lanka FTA etc.
- (e) In order to protect the interest of the domestic industry and agriculture sector, these trade  agreements  provide  for  maintaining  sensitive/negative  lists  of  items  on  which limited or no tariff concessions are granted under the FTA. In addition, in case of a surge  in  imports  and  injury  to  the  domestic  industry,  a  country  is  allowed  to  take recourse to the measures such as anti-dumping and safeguards. Government of India takes recourse to such measures as and when required.

***

Annexure 1 FTAs/CECAs/CEPAs already in force:

|   SN | Name of the Agreement                                                                                                                               | Date of Signing of the Agreement   | Date of Implementation of the Agreement                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | India - Sri Lanka FTA                                                                                                                               | 28 th Dec.. 1998                   | 1 st March, 2000                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
|    2 | Agreement on SAFTA (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan)                                            | 4th January, 2004                  | 1st January, 2006 (Tariff concessions implemented from 1 st July, 2006)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|    3 | Revised Agreement of Cooperation between Government of India and Nepal to control unauthorized trade                                                | 27 th October, 2009                | 27 th October, 2009                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|    4 | India - Bhutan Agreement on Trade Commerce and Transit                                                                                              | 17 th January, 1972                | Renewed periodically, with mutually agreed modifications.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
|    5 | India - Thailand FTA - Early Harvest Scheme (EHS)                                                                                                   | 9 th October, 2003.                | 1 st September, 2004                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|    6 | India - Singapore CECA                                                                                                                              | 29th June, 2005                    | 1st August, 2005                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
|    7 | India - ASEAN- CECA - Trade in Goods Agreement (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) | 13 th August, 2009                 |  1st January 2010 in respect of India and Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand.  1 st June 2010 in respect of India and Vietnam.  1 st September 2010 in respect of India and Myanmar.  1 st October 2010 in respect of India and Indonesia.  1 st November 2010 in respect of India and Brunei.  24 January 2011 in respect of India and Laos.  1 st June 2011 in respect of India and the Philippines.  1 st August, 2011 in respect of India and Cambodia. |
|    8 | India - South Korea CEPA                                                                                                                            | 7 th August 2009                   | 1 st January, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
|    9 | India - Japan CEPA                                                                                                                                  | 16 th February, 2011               | 1 st August, 2011                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|   10 | India - Malaysia CECA                                                                                                                               | 18 th February, 2011               | 1 st July, 2011                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|   11 | India-ASEAN Services and Investment Agreement                                                                                                       | November, 2014                     | 1 st July, 2015                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |

| (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

## Annexure 2

## PTAs already in force:

|   S. No. | Name of the Agreement                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               | Date of Signing of the Agreement           | Date of Implementation of the Agreement   |
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) (Bangladesh, China, India, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | July, 1975 (revised on 2 nd November, 2005 | 1st Nov,1976                              |
|        2 | Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) (Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Tanzania, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yugoslavia, | 13 th April, 1988                          | 19 th April,1989                          |
|        3 | SAARC Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA)(India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | 11 April, 1993                             | 7 December, 1995                          |
|        4 | India - Afghanistan                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | 6th March, 2003                            | 13 th May,2003                            |
|        5 | India - MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | 25th January, 2004                         | 1st June, 2009                            |
|        6 | India - Chile                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | 8 th March, 2006                           | 11 th September, 2007                     |

## India's total trade with FTA partners

| BLOCK              | YEAR                        | EXPORT          | IMPORT         | TOTAL TRADE      |
|--------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------|----------------|------------------|
| APTA COUNTRIES     | 2012-13                     | 26914.05        | 66618.58       | 93532.63         |
| APTA COUNTRIES     | 2013-14                     | 29778.81        | 64658.43       | 94437.25         |
| APTA COUNTRIES     | 2014-15                     | 29716.47        | 75319.81       | 105036.29        |
| APTA COUNTRIES     | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 11899.90        | 38995.52       | 50895.42         |
| GSTP COUNTRIES     | 2012-13                     | 78039.06        | 140625.46      | 218664.52        |
| GSTP COUNTRIES     | 2013-14                     | 82935.06        | 135926.39      | 218861.45        |
| GSTP COUNTRIES     | 2014-15                     | 84206.96        | 134450.26      | 218657.22        |
| GSTP COUNTRIES     | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 32867.06        | 58385.95       | 91253.02         |
| ASEAN COUNTRIES    | 2012-13                     | 33008.31        | 42866.36       | 75874.67         |
| ASEAN COUNTRIES    | 2013-14                     | 33135.05        | 41279.29       | 74414.35         |
| ASEAN COUNTRIES    | 2014-15                     | 31812.86        | 44714.77       | 76527.63         |
| ASEAN COUNTRIES    | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 11787.95        | 20953.49       | 32741.44         |
| JAPAN              | 2012-13                     | 6101.24         | 12412.29       | 18513.54         |
| JAPAN              | 2013-14                     | 6814.64         | 9481.03        | 16295.67         |
| JAPAN              | 2014-15                     | 5385.87         | 10131.36       | 15517.23         |
| JAPAN              | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 2597.79         | 4912.18        | 7509.97          |
| KOREA              | 2012-13                     | 4205.67         | 13105.12       | 17310.79         |
| KOREA              | 2013-14                     | 4209.52         | 12470.97       | 16680.49         |
| KOREA              | 2014-15                     | 4604.19         | 13529.11       | 18133.30         |
| MALAYSIA           | 2012-13                     | 4444.10         | 9951.06        | 14395.15         |
| MALAYSIA           | 2013-14                     | 4198.18         | 9230.18        | 13428.36         |
| MALAYSIA           | 2014-15                     | 5816.65         | 11117.74       | 16934.39         |
| MALAYSIA           | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 2154.69         | 4675.53        | 6830.22          |
| SINGAPORE          | 2012-13                     | 13619.31        | 7486.38        | 21105.70         |
| SINGAPORE          | 2013-14                     | 12511.19        | 6762.71        | 19273.90         |
| SINGAPORE          | 2014-15                     | 9809.53         | 7124.47        | 16934.00         |
| SINGAPORE          | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 3425.72         | 3810.31        | 7236.02          |
| AFGHANISTAN        | 2012-13                     | 472.63          | 159.55         | 632.18           |
| AFGHANISTAN        | 2013-14                     | 474.35          | 208.77         | 683.13           |
| AFGHANISTAN        | 2014-15                     | 422.56          | 261.91         | 684.47           |
| BHUTAN             | 2015-16(APR TO SEP) 2012-13 | 302.66 233.22   | 109.34 164.00  | 412.00 397.22    |
| BHUTAN             | 2013-14                     | 355.61          | 152.17         | 507.78           |
| BHUTAN             | 2014-15                     | 333.94          | 149.87         | 483.81           |
| BHUTAN             | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 183.75          | 183.61         | 367.36           |
| CHILE              | 2012-13                     | 690.00          | 2992.31        | 3682.31          |
| CHILE              | 2013-14                     | 664.02          | 2508.04        | 3172.06          |
| CHILE              | 2014-15                     | 565.82          | 3080.63        | 3646.45          |
| NEPAL              | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 331.60          | 1111.82        | 1443.43          |
| NEPAL              | 2013-14                     | 3592.43         | 529.95         | 4122.37          |
| NEPAL              | 2014-15                     | 4558.77         | 639.91         | 5198.68          |
| SRILANKA           | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 1946.49         | 258.18         | 2204.67          |
|                    | 2012-13                     | 3983.87         | 625.81         | 4609.68          |
|                    | 2013-14                     | 4534.51         | 666.94         | 5201.45          |
|                    | 2014-15                     | 6703.72         | 756.17         | 7459.89          |
| MERCOSUR COUNTRIES | 2015-16(APR TO SEP)         | 2791.26 6814.66 | 394.52 6057.54 | 3185.78 12872.20 |
| MERCOSUR COUNTRIES |                             |                 |                | 11499.35         |
| MERCOSUR COUNTRIES | 2012-13                     |                 |                |                  |
|                    | 2013-14                     | 6414.12         | 5085.23        |                  |
|                    | 2014-15                     | 6738.84         | 7501.63        | 14240.46         |
| SAARC COUNTRIES    | 2012-13                     | 15110.80        | 2679.95        | 17790.75         |

## Annexure 3

## (VALUES IN MILLION USD)

|          | 2013-14             |   17504.59 |   2473.07 |   19977.66 |
|----------|---------------------|------------|-----------|------------|
|          | 2014-15             |   20480.1  |   2930.85 |   23411    |
|          | 2015-16(APR TO SEP) |    8814.72 |   1499.39 |   10314.1  |
| THAILAND | 2012-13             |    3733.17 |   5352.61 |    9085.78 |
|          | 2013-14             |    3703.39 |   5340.36 |    9043.75 |
|          | 2014-15             |    3464.83 |   5865.88 |    9330.71 |
|          | 2015-16(APR TO SEP) |    1530.25 |   2927.19 |    4457.43 |

Source-DGCIS, Kolkata

## Annexure 4

NOTE: FIGURES FOR 2015-16(APR TO SEP) IS PROVISIONAL.

## FTAs/PTAs under Negotiation:

|   S. No. | Name of the Agreement                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | Status                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | India - EU BTIA (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) | Negotiations launched on 28th June 2007 in the areas of Goods, Services, Investment, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade Facilitation and Customs Cooperation, Competition, IPR &GIs. etc. Fifteen rounds of negotiations and a number of inter- sessional and Chief Negotiator level meetings have been held till date. A Ministerial review meeting between Hon'ble Commerce & Industry Minister and EU's Trade Commissioner was held on 15 th April, 2013 at Brussels. After a period of lull, both sides began re-engagement from October, 2014 onwards. |
|        2 | India - Sri Lanka CEPA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     | FTA in goods implemented from March 2000. A JSG was set up in April, 2003 to widen the ambit of ISLFTA to go beyond Trade in Goods to include Services and to facilitate greater investment flows between the two countries. Based on the recommendation and conclusion of the JSG, negotiations for a CEPA were started in February, 2005. No discussion is currently taking place India-Sri Lanka CEPA                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|        3 | India - Thailand CECA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | Early Harvest Scheme on 82 items implemented. So far 29 th rounds of India-Thailand Trade Negotiation committee (ITTNC) meetings have been held. The 29 th round was held in Bangkok in June 2015.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|        4 | India - Mauritius CECPA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    | Ten rounds of negotiations on India-Mauritius CECPA have been held between the two sides so far. The last round of negotiation was held between India and Mauritius on 23-24 October, 2006. However, CECPA negotiations have been                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |

|    |                                                                           | formally put on hold.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|----|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  5 | India EFTA TEPA (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland)          | The India-EFTA TEPA (Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement) was launched in January 2008 (then known as BTIA). The first round was held in New Delhi during 6-8 October, 2008. The Chapters covered are Trade in Goods, Services, Investment,, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures (SPS), Technical Barriers to Trade(TBT), Trade Facilitation and Customs Cooperation, Competition, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Government Procurement (GP), Dispute Settlement(DS), Trade Defence(TD), Rules of origin(ROO), Sustainable Development (SD) and Legal & Horizontal etc. 13 rounds of negotiations have been held with the 13 th and final round being held on 25-29 th November, 2013. Legal vetting has been completed in most of the texts with only some residual work remaining. There are few pending issues on both sides such as TRIPS Plus and Data Adequacy/Data Security |
|  6 | India - New Zealand FTA/CECA                                              | Ten Rounds of negotiation of CECA have been held so far. The 10 th Round was held in New Delhi on 17-18 February, 2015.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|  7 | India - Israel FTA                                                        | Eight rounds of negotiations on India-Israel FTA have been held so far. The Eighth round was held in Israel from 24-26 November, 2013.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
|  8 | India - Singapore CECA                                                    | Second review of India-Singapore CECA was launched in May, 2010. During the visit of Minister of Commerce & Industry on 15-16 May, 2013 to Singapore, it was decided to constitute a Joint Working Group of Reserve Bank of India and Monetary Authority of Singapore to resolve the issue of Asset Maintenance Requirements in a time bound manner to conclude the 2 nd Review on the issue of Employee Provident Fund.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
|  9 | India - SACU PTA (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia) | Five rounds of negotiations have been held so far. 1 st Round of negotiation was held in Pretoria on October 5-6 th , 2007 and the 5 th round of negotiations held in October 2010 in New Delhi. During the 9 th Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) meeting held at Durban on 19 th March, 2015 under the co-chairmanship of Hon'ble Minister of External Affair and South Africa's Foreign Minister, while discussing pending negotiations on finalization of INDIA- SACU PTA, the Indian side requested the South African side for assistance in holding the 6 th round of negotiations.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| 10 | India - Mercosur PTA (Argentina, Brazil,                                  | The two issues currently under discussion on the India- Mercosur PTA are the expansion in coverage and inclusion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |

|    | Paraguay and Uruguay)                                                                                                                                   | of Venezuela in the PTA.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
|----|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 11 | India - Chile PTA                                                                                                                                       | With the objective of gaining optimal benefits and boosting bilateral trade between the two countries, the expansion of India-Chile PTA is being processed for Cabinet approval.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| 12 | BIMSTEC FTA (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal)                                                                         | 20 meetings of the Trade Negotiation Committee (TNC) have taken place. 20 th Meeting of BIMSTEC Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) was held on during 07-09, September 2015 in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| 13 | India - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Framework Agreement (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and United Arab Emirates)                        | Two rounds of negotiations have been held so far in 2006 and 2008. The second round was held in September 9-10, 2008. No round could take place held in the last 7 years since GCC has deferred its negotiations with all countries and economic groups and is currently reviewing its negotiations with all countries and economic groups.                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| 14 | India - Canada FTA                                                                                                                                      | Nine rounds of negotiation on India-Canada CEPA have been held so far. The Ninth round was held in March, 15.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| 15 | India - Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)                                                                                   | Commencement of negotiation on Indonesia - India CECA was announced on 25 th January 2011 during the visit of Indonesian President to New Delhi. Negotiations are yet to commence. The first meeting pre-negotiation and Biennial Trade and Investment Forum (BTIF) took place in Jakarta on October 3-4, 2011. Negotiation has been kept in abeyance watching progress of RCEP.                                                                                                                                                        |
| 16 | India - Australia CECA                                                                                                                                  | Nine rounds of negotiations have been held so far. The Ninth round of negotiations was held on 21-23 September, 2015 in New Delhi, India.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| 17 | India-Malaysia CECA (1 st Review)                                                                                                                       | 1 st meeting of the India-Malaysia Joint Committee meeting to review implementation of the Agreement was held on 8 th December, 2014.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 18 | Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement among ASEAN + 6 FTA Partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand) | Based on the Declaration of the Leaders during the ASEAN Summit in November, 2012, negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership between the 10 ASEAN member states and its 6 FTA partners commenced in May, 2013. Ten rounds of negotiations have been held so far. The 10 th round was held on 8-16, October 2015 in Busan, Korea. The negotiations cover a number of areas like trade in goods, services, investment, intellectual property, economic & technical cooperation, competition and legal & institutional issues. |

*****

| 19   | India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) (1 st Review)   | The ASEAN Secretariat has agreed to the 1 st review of India-ASEAN trade in Goods Agreement in the coming months. Dates would be finalized as per mutual consultations.   |
|------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|