New Delhi, Jan 15 (IANS): India's free trade agreement (FTA) in services and investments with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will come into effect July 1 following the necessary ratification by bloc members, Malaysia's Minister of Trade and Industry Dato' Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Thursday.
Malaysia is the current chair of Asean in 2015 and the Malaysian minister hoped the grouping would get community status by the year-end, which would help deepen and broaden India's relations with Asean.
"Malaysia's role in 2015 is to ensure that Asean can be declared a community of nations," Mohamed, who is here on an official visit, told reporters.
"By being declared a community Asean will be more attractive as a single market concept. Indian companies can then choose Malaysia as a base to launch into the Asean market with its 620 million people and $2.5 trillion economy," he added.
Trade between India and the 10-member bloc was at $76 billion in 2012-13, while both sides have aimed to increase it to $100 billion by 2015 and envisage lifting import tariffs on over 80 percent of traded products by 2016.
On the bilateral front, there is much scope to improve on the current level of around $1.2 billion combined investment by Indian companies in Malaysia, which is in a ratio of one to five compared to the $6 billion invested by Malaysian companies in India, Mohamed said.
He said though the implementation of the Malaysia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement since 2011 has further boosted bilateral trade, the target of $15 billion turnover appears challenging in the face of the steep fall in global crude oil prices.
Crude oil and palm oil comprise 40 percent of Malyasia's exports to India.
Mohamed is scheduled to participate in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) partnership summit beginning Thursday in the Rajasthan capital Jaipur, where he will meet Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, potential investors from India as well as Malaysian businesses that already have an establishment here.