India committed to regional integration of CEPEA: Sharma

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma meeting the Japanese Minister for Economy, Trade & Industry Masayuki Naoshima, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting (AEM), at Da Nang city, Vietnam on August 26, 2010.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma today reiterated India's commitment towards the 16-country regional integration initiative of Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA).

At meetings with Trade and Commerce Ministers from the 10 ASEAN member-states and China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand (Australia was represented by an Official) gathered at Da Nang in Vietnam today, Mr Sharma also welcomed the formation of four working groups to study economic cooperation, rules of origin, customs procedures and tariff nomenclature of the region.

The Ministers exchanged views on regional and global issues affecting the East Asian region as well as developments in several areas of cooperation within the East Asia Summit (EAS) framework.

Mr Sharma announced that India would host the next workshop on Rules of Origin. While discussing the future steps under the CEPEA process, the Minister supported Japan's paper suggesting a procedure and timeline. He also suggested that the ASEAN+6 meetings be structured and formalized.

According to an official press release here, the Ministers also exchanged views on recent developments in the Doha Development Round in the WTO.

Mr Sharma reiterated India's commitment towards a strong multilateral trading system based on economic growth, development and stability.

During his meeting with Mr. Masayuki Naoshima, Minister of Economy and Trade and Industry, Japan on the sidelines of the ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting (AEM), Mr Sharma expressed satisfaction over the progress made during the inter-sessional meeting held from August 16-19 in New Delhi to finalize the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries.

He said that India and Japan were committed to a high quality agreement that would not only take the bilateral trade and economic relations to a new high but also bring the two countries closer in harnessing their full potential for a meaningful strategic partnership in the region.

Both Ministers agreed that the CEPA negotiations were currently at an advanced stage and the negotiating teams were working hard to give it a final shape. The chief negotiators are scheduled to meet in Tokyo on September 9 to explore the possibility of an "in principle agreement". They hoped that the "in principle" agreement will happen and the two sides will complete necessary formalities to get the agreement ready to be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo in October.

NNN