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India hosted the 10th Meeting of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Joint Committee and related sessions at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi, from August 10 to 14, 2025, according to a Ministry of Commerce and Industry statement. The gathering brought together delegates from all ten ASEAN member states to push forward the review of the 14-year-old trade pact.
The meetings, held in a hybrid format, were co-chaired by Nitin Kumar Yadav, Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and Mastura Ahmad Mustafa, Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of Investment, Trade & Industry, Malaysia. Representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam attended. At the heart of the discussions was the ongoing review of AITIGA, aimed at improving its effectiveness, accessibility, and trade facilitation capabilities. This review builds on the progress from eight previous rounds of negotiations. Seven of the eight sub-committees under the AITIGA joint committee also convened alongside the main meeting. These included the sub-committee on Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation (SC-CPTF), Legal and Institutional Issues (SC-LII), National Treatment and Market Access (SC-NTMA), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SC-SPS), Rules of Origin (SC-ROO), Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures (SC-STRACAP), and Trade Remedies (SC-TR). Their deliberations addressed technical issues ranging from product standards to customs processes, forming the groundwork for the main committee's decisions. ASEAN continues to be a major trade partner for India, accounting for roughly 11 per cent of the country's global trade. Bilateral trade between India and ASEAN stood at USD 123 billion in 2024-25, underlining the scale and potential of the relationship. The next AITIGA Joint Committee meeting is set for October 6-7, 2025, at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, with Malaysia as host. The outcomes of the New Delhi talks will form the basis for the next phase of negotiations. (ANI)
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