NEW DELHI: India's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) could touch $70 billion in three years thanks to a free trade pact that came into effect last year, an official said Tuesday.
Trade between India and ASEAN members jumped to over $50 billion in 2010 from $41 billion the previous year, Commerce Ministry joint secretary Sumanta Choudhuri told reporters in New Delhi ahead of a visit by ASEAN ministers.
"We're aiming for $70 billion in the next three years," Choudhuri said.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Trade ministers from the 10 member nations will visit India in March to discuss widening the free trade agreement to cover investments and services in addition to goods, Choudhuri added.
The official described the talks on broadening the agreement as "complex" especially in the services area, where "levels of liberalisation and levels of progress within the ASEAN countries" differ.
India signed its trade deal with ASEAN in 2009 but the agreement came into effect in January 2010, making the country the Southeast Asian bloc's seventh-largest trading partner.
ASEAN, which numbers nearly 600 million people, has forged free trade pacts with a number of key regional economies, including China and India, and has said it aims to achieve a single market and manufacturing base by 2015.
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