Public Consultation on the Review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA)

1. Introduction

1.1          The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) is seeking feedback on the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Review. The public consultation period is from 17 February to 18 March 2025.

2. Background

2.1          The AITIGA was signed by ASEAN Member States and India on 14 August 2009 in Bangkok and came into effect in October 2010. It paved the way for the creation of one of the world’s largest free trade areas with more than 1.9 billion people and a combined GDP of US$5.36 trillion.

2.2         The implementation of the AITIGA has contributed to the expansion of two-way trade between ASEAN and India. It committed Parties to liberalise tariffs in over 90% of product lines, comprising tariff elimination on 80% of product lines and tariff reduction on 10% of product lines to 5% by 2016.

3. AITIGA Review

3.1        The AITIGA Review was launched by the ASEAN and India leaders at the 17th ASEAN Economic Ministers’-India Consultations on 29 August 2020. The AITIGA Review aims to make the agreement more user-friendly, simple, trade facilitative for businesses by enhancing trade commitments and facilitation; simplifying customs procedures; and enabling further engagements between ASEAN and India through economic and technical cooperation programmes.

3.2         The existing coverage of the AITIGA is set out in Table 1 below. In addition to a comprehensive review of all the provisions found within these chapters, the AITIGA Review will also seek to address implementation issues to make it more relevant to the current global trading practices.

4. Invitation to Provide Feedback

4.1          MTI invites businesses and members of the public to provide feedback on the various aspects of the AITIGA that could be improved on and other useful feedback that could be incorporated within the context of a Trade in Goods Agreement by 18 March 2025. Feedback can be submitted via this link, or by scanning the QR code below.

4.2          Please note that all submissions received may be published and attributed to the respective respondents unless they expressly request MTI not to do so. As such, if respondents would like: (i) their whole submission, or part of it; or (ii) their identity; or both, to be kept confidential, please state so in the submission. In addition, MTI reserves the right not to publish any submissions received where MTI considers it not in the public’s interest to do so, such as if the submission appears to be libellous or offensive.

Annex A - AITIGA Frequently Asked Questions