India Targets Deals With Thailand & Indonesia Now.

India is looking to wrap up comprehensive trade pacts with Thailand and Indonesia, eyeing the lucrative health, education and accountancy sectors in the two Asean nations. While talks with Thailand have started, Indonesia is yet to put a negotiations team in place, despite President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announcing in January that talks would start soon.

Earlier this year, India signed a comprehensive trade pact with Malaysia. "Both Thailand and Indonesia are highly interested in bilateral trade deals. A Thai team of officials is right now in New Delhi to discuss the pact," a commerce department official told ET. Indonesia, however, is going slow. The country is yet to appoint a chief negotiator for the talks. "We told the Indonesians at a recent Asean meeting that our team was in place and they need to hurry ," the official said, adding that an official delegation could be sent to Indonesia to expedite things. It is important for India to sign comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPAs), which include goods and services , with individual Asean members to be able to access the vast services market in the region.

These pacts could allow Indian professionals longer duration visas , easier renewals and relaxation of criteria such as the economic needs test, wherein a firm hiring a foreigner must prove there is an economic need for it, which can't be fulfilled by domestic workers. Malaysia has offered similar concessions to the country. India's services negotiations with the 10-member Asean are moving at a slow pace.

Singapore was the first Asean country to sign aCEPA with India in 2006. This was followed by the Malaysian CEPA earlier this year, which will be implemented in July. "There is a lot of demand for professional services in these countries which at present is being met by countries like Australia, New Zealand and to some extent China," said Ram Upendra Das, senior fellow at Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a New Delhi-based think tank. Australia, New Zealand and China have preferential access to the two markets through comprehensive trade deals. India too can compete once it signs its bilateral pacts.

India's negotiations with the Asean on a services and investments pact is moving at a slow pace, with the next round scheduled for May. India and the Asean implemented a free-trade agreement in goods earlier this year, which is yet to be ratified by Vietnam and the Philippines. "It is very clear that we cannot expect too much from Asean in services, as a number of members including Vietnam and the Philippines are apprehensive about giving more access to professionals ," the official said.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com