India, Singapore launches next round review of free trade agreement

India and Singapore Saturday launched the next round of review for their existing free trade agreement with a view to further boost bilateral trade and investments between the countries, the commerce ministry said.

The free trade agreement, officially dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), came into force in 2005. In an FTA review, two trading partners normally discuss ways to further relax norms and rules to promote trade and investments.

The review round was launched by Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu and Minister of Trade Relations of Singapore S Iswaran.

"The launch of the review signals further deepening of business, economic and trade collaboration between the two countries," the ministry said in a statement.

Singapore is the second largest trading partner of India within ASEAN and India is the largest trading partner of Singapore in South Asia, with a bilateral trade of USD 17.7 billion in 2017-18.

Prabhu, who was in Singapore, also participated in the 15th ASEAN Economic Ministers-India Consultations.

In the meeting, India reaffirmed the need for a review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement.

During his bilateral meeting with Hiroshige Seko, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Prabhu sought greater Japanese investments in automobiles, cargo aircraft, and manufacturing sectors.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the ministry said Prabhu participated in the 6th East Asia Summit-Economic Ministers' Meeting (EAS-EMM) and 15th India-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting (AEM) in Singapore.

The ministers agreed to the importance of keeping markets open and fair as well as improving transparency and predictability of the business environment.

Further, the ministers took stock of the current level of trade and economic engagement between India and ASEAN.

ASEAN has emerged as the second largest trade partner of India in 2017-18 with bilateral trade valued at USD 81.33 billion, comprising 10.58 percent of India's total trade with the world.

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