India has said it is not ready to sign the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this month in Thailand and hopes to sign the pact in April during India-ASEAN summit.
Asked when the pact will be signed, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said “Maybe at the India-ASEAN Summit in April.”
There are certain issues that need to be settled before the trade pact with the ten-nation grouping could be inked, he was cited by the Times of India. Therefore, India is not likely to sign the pact with ASEAN this month.
Earlier, there were reports of India possibly signing a free trade pact with the bloc during the 14th ASEAN summit, which was rescheduled to be held between Feb. 27 and Mar. 1 at Thailand’s beach resort town of Hua Hin, after it was postponed in December last year due to political crisis in Bangkok.
Currently, trade between India and ASEAN is close to 40 billion USD and the target is to touch 50 billion USD by 2010.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.