Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on July 10 said he had a productive meeting with Tzafrul Aziz, Malaysian Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, during which he discussed the ongoing review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA). “Looking forward to fast-tracking discussions with ASEAN member states to ensure fair trade and balanced growth,” Piyush Goyal said in a post on X.
“We also held discussions on the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between both countries,” Goyal stated. Malaysia is India’s permanent coordinator from ASEAN on economic matters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also met his Malaysian counterpart, Anwar bin Ibrahim, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro this week, and among other issues, discussed the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement review. He congratulated Malaysia for its successful stewardship of ASEAN and welcomed its continued support for a strengthened ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including early and successful completion of ASEAN-India FTA review, according to an official statement.
The AITIGA is a trade pact between the ten ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and India. It aims to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers to facilitate trade. The agreement was signed in 2009 and came into force on January 1, 2010, as part of a broader Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) framework.
