Asean and India will finalise investment liberalisation under their free-trade agreement this year in bid to boost investment growth between the two sides amid the global economic recovery.
A senior Commerce Ministry source yesterday said negotiations last week in Jakarta between Indian officials and their Asean-member counterparts showed great progress in the area of investment liberalisation.
"It should take another two rounds of talks before concluding negotiations for a high-level official meeting," the source said.
Senior economic officials will return to Jakarta for more talks from March 22-26.
Asean and India have already implemented liberalisation of trade in goods since signing their FTA last August. They are expected to reach a conclusion on investment this year and then services later, turning the FTA into a more comprehensive pact.
Thirty articles are planned for inclusion in investment liberalisation under the FTA. So far, officials have already come up with 10 of them.
Some technical issues were raised during the latest meeting, including differences of opinion over whether to use a positive or a negative list for the agreement.
Thailand believes implementation of a negative list, which would list sectors in which foreign investment was prohibited, may be problematic.
However, the source said both sides should soon come up with |a consensus agreement on the |technical issues, with investment liberalisation implemented next year.
The source said opening up investment between Asean and India would benefit Thailand if Thai enterprises explored opportunities in the Indian market rather than acting only as a host country.
"Thai enterprises are highly efficient in expanding abroad. Investment liberalisation under the Asean-India FTA will not only facilitate business expansion in India, but also increase protection for Thai and Asean investors, the source said.
Moreover, India has plenty of raw materials and low-cost labour that could benefit Thai investors.
Potential areas of investment are agriculture, goods manufacturing, healthcare and construction.
