129 : India’s Engagement with ASEAN: Beyond Trade in Goods
Shankaran Nambiar
26 August 2011
India has actively engaged the
Association
of Southeast As
ian Nations (
ASEAN
), reaching a
zenith with the signing of ASEAN
-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA)
on 13 August 2009.
Further,
India has plans for
bilateral
free trade agreements (
FTA
) with select ASEAN
member nations. Broadly speaking, the comparative advantage of
ASEAN
member countries
is in manufacturing, while that of Ind
ia is in services.
Hence both ASEAN and India can
exploit
their relative strengths
. The
paper will seek to look beyond trade in goods to flag 2
other areas that might offer scope for br
oader
engagement in the future
. The p
aper argues
that trade in services
, security, the environment and infrastructure
offer wider opportunities
for collaboration between ASEAN and India.