The free trade agreement between India and Malaysia will come into force from July 1, 2011, giving Indian professionals like accountants, engineers and doctors access to the key South-East Asian nation. In addition, exports of items of considerable interest to India, like basmati rice, mangoes, eggs, trucks, motorcycles and cotton garments, will attract lower or no duty in Malaysia with the implementation of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), according to a statement of the Commerce Ministry issued in New Delhi on June 30, 2011. It said sensitive sectors like agriculture, fisheries, textiles, chemicals and automobiles have been given protection from imports without duty or with significant cuts. The CCEA will facilitate temporary movement of business people, including contractual service suppliers and independent professionals in accounting, architecture, engineering services, medical and dental, nursing and pharmacy, computer services and management consulting. The agreement will also help boost cross-border investment between the two countries, which achieved bilateral trade of USD 10 billion in the 2010-11 fiscal. With the help of the opening of trade in goods and services, bilateral trade between India and Malaysia is expected to reach USD 15 billion by 2015, it said. "The CECA creates an attractive operating environment for the business communities of both countries," the statement said.
An agreement for freeing trade in goods has already been implemented with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The pact with Malaysia will lead to tariff liberalisation beyond the India-ASEAN FTA commitments, which were implemented by both countries on 1st January 2010. India has
also freed trade with South Korea, while a similar agreement with Japan will come into effect from August.
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries. The AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in Singapore.
When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and
Cambodia in 1999. AFTA now comprises ten countries of ASEAN. All the four latecomers were required to sign the AFTA agreement in order to join ASEAN, but were given longer time frames in which to meet
AFTA's tariff reduction obligations.
The primary goals of AFTA seek to:
Increase ASEAN's competitive edge as a production base in the world market through the elimination, within ASEAN, of tariffs and non-tariff barriers; and
Attract more foreign direct investment to ASEAN. The primary mechanism for achieving the goals given
above is the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme, which established a schedule for phased initiated in 1992 with the self-described goal to increase the "region's competitive advantage as a
production base geared for the world market".
Countries that agree to eliminate tariffs among themselves:
Brunei
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Myanmar
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
Regular Observers
Papua New Guinea
Timor-Leste
The most recent ASEANmeeting was observed also by :
China
Japan
South Korea
India
Australia
New Zealand
ASEAN Plus Three
ASEAN Plus Three (APT) is a forum that functions as a coordinator of cooperation between theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations and the three East Asian nations of China, Japan, and South Korea. The first leaders' meeting was held in 1997 and the group's significance and importance was strengthened by the Asian Financial Crisis. The grouping was institutionalised by 1999.
ASEAN Plus Three, in establishing the Chiang Mai Initiative, has been credited as forming the basis for financial stability in Asia, the lack of such stability being a contributing factor to the Asian Financial Crisis. The
Asian Currency Unit (ACU) is a proposed weighted index of currencies for ASEAN+3.
The ACU was inspired by the now defunct European Currency Unit, replaced by the Euro. The Asian Currency Unit's purpose is to help stabilize the region's financial markets. The ACU
as it is proposed is a currency basket and not a real currency, i.e., a weighted index of East Asian currencies
that will function as a benchmark for regional currency movements. The Asian Development Bank is currently reviewing different options concerning the technical aspects related to the ACU calculation, including the nature of the basket, the choice of fixed weights vs. fixed units, the selection of currencies to be included in the basket, the choice of weights, the criteria for their periodical revision, and other aspects as well. The Asian Development Bank was to announce the details of the ACU in March 2006 or later. However external pressures delayed this announcement although the concept was still being studied in detail. A panel discussion in February 2007 cited technical and political obstacles as having prevented the project from advancing. The unit, limited to ASEAN+3, was said to be still moving forward by mid- July 2007.
India Proposed/Suspended Current Bilateral/ Multilateral FTA's
SAFTA (Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan)
ASEAN (ASEAN-India Free Trade Area)
European Union (final stage)
Sri Lanka
Singapore
Thailand (separate from FTA agreement with ASEAN)
Malaysia (separate from FTA agreement with ASEAN)
Japan
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) (negotiation ongoing)
Canada (negotiation ongoing)
South Korea (India- Korea CEPA)
Iran has bilateral agreements with the following countries and blocs:
Venezuela
Japan has bilateral agreements with the following countries and blocs:
ASEAN (signed in Hanoi as of 1 April 2008)
Chile (signed in 2006)
Brunei (signed in 2007)
Indonesia
Malaysia (Japan- Malaysia Economic Partnership Agreement signed in 2005)
Mexico (took effect in 2005)
Philippines (signed in 2006)
Thailand (Japan- Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement signed in 2007)
Singapore (signed in 2002)
Vietnam (signed in 2008)
Switzerland (signed in 2009)
Kazakhstan (Entry into force: 11 November 1995)
Moldova (Entry into force: 21 November 1996)
Russian Federation (Entry into force: 24 April 1993)
Ukraine (Entry into force: 19 January 1998)
Uzbekistan (Entry into force: 20 March 1998)
Lebanon has bilateral agreements with the following countries and blocs:
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
Bilateral free trade agreements:
This is list of free trade agreements between two sides, where each side could be a country (or othercustoms territory), a trade bloc or an informal group of countries. Every customs union, trade common market, economic union, customs and monetary union andeconomic and monetary union has also a free trade area.
ASEAN - Australia - New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) is a free trade area between ASEAN and ANZCERTA, in effect as of 1 January 2010
ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA), in effect as of 1 January 2010
ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (AIFTA), in effect as of 1 January 2010
ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP), in effect as of 1 December 2008
ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Area (AKFTA), in effect as of 1 January 2010
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