Asean, India to expand trade deal

Asean, India to expand trade deal

NEW DELHI - India and members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) were to map out ties and extend a free-trade agreement to services and investment, as a summit opens in the Indian capital Thursday, an Indian foreign ministry official said.

The two-day commemorative meetings in New Delhi were expected to end with a "vision document" that would scale up ties in fields including trade, infrastructure, energy and culture, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.

The two parties reached a trade deal in 2010 but India has pushed for extending the agreement to services and investment, Commerce Ministry officials said.

The heads of state or governments of all the Asean member nations except the Philippines are expected to attend. The latter member is being represented by its vice president, the foreign ministry said.

The summit commemorates the 10th anniversary of summit-level meetings between India and Asean and the 20th anniversary of formal engagement between the two.

Current Asean members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

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