India, Malaysia agree to take steps to speed up review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement
The commerce ministry has said that India and Malaysia have agreed to take steps to speed up the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) for its substantial conclusion by 2025. Malaysia is one of the key members of the 10-member ASEAN and chair of the group for this year. The decision to speed up the review came at the bilateral meeting between Minister of State of Commerce Jitin Prasada and Malaysian Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Liew Chin Tong.
The ministry said the agreement came into force in 2010 and the review of the pact was agreed to in 2019 on the demand by India after imports from ASEAN surged and trade balance became heavily in favour of the 10-member grouping.
It said both sides also discussed the bilateral trade issues including greater, market access for goods, collaboration in the semiconductor industry, cooperation in the service sector and the issues related to the Foreign Manufacturers Certification Scheme (FMCS) of the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS). Malaysia is India's third largest trading partner of India in ASEAN with total trade of $20.02 billion during 2023-24.
