ASEAN - INDIA FTA (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Trade)

Context: India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to review their trade pact by 2025, less than a month after India's trade minister called the agreement unfair to the Indian industry.

• The decision came at a meeting of economic ministers from the two sides in Indonesia.
• The ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) was signed in 2009.

ASEAN–India Free Trade Area (AIFTA)

• It is a free trade area among the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India.
• It came into force from January 2010.
• Under the pact, two trading partners set timelines for eliminating duties on the maximum number of goods traded between the two regions.
• The ASEAN-India Free Area emerged from a mutual interest of both parties to expand their economic ties in the Asia-Pacific region. 
• India's Look East policy was reciprocated by similar interests of many ASEAN countries to expand their interactions westward.