February 17, 2026 12:24 pm (IST)
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India 'concerned' over recent ASEAN talks
New Delhi, Sept 3 (IBNS): India is concerned over the recent nature of trade negotiations with other ASEAN countries and hopes that its services-intensive interests are given regard at par with manufacturing-driven rivals such as China, Indian Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said Wednesday.
Kher said recent talks such as those for the proposed free trade agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members have not accorded due regard for India’s domestic constraints such as the development of its lumbering manufacturing sector.
“We must move together and ensure that there are no disparate movements. India’s powerful services sector can only add to the manufacturing advantage of other regional countries and increase Asia’s composite competitiveness,” Kher said.
New Delhi is in the process of rallying support for its interests and has received assurances from a ‘fair number’ of member nations, the commerce secretary told IBNS on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the government here.
But differences aside, India will soon sign the ASEAN pacts on services and investments as part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that were supposed to be signed last week in Myanmar, Kher said.
(Reporting by Divyanshu Dutta Roy)
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