[NEWS LIVE TV] SEND BIZ TEAM TO NE STATES, AIBC URGES MINISTER

Source: http://www.newslivetv.com/regional/send-biz-team-to-ne-states-aibc-urges-minister.html

GUWAHATI: The Asean India Business Council (AIBC) has requested Union minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman to send a business delegation to NE states in September.

The AIBC, a major regional group representing one of the biggest consumer markets in Asia, has presented a 14-point agenda of issues that needed to be resolved to enhance commerce and ease the flow of trade, to the economic ministers of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The visit was proposed by Assam-born businessman Habib Mohammed Chowdhury, who is the chairman of AIBC (Laos), during an earlier meeting of the council.

The AIBC members unanimously accepted the proposal and informed their willingness to extend their co-operation to the visiting Indian minister. “Nirmala Sitharaman requested a comprehensive consultation for tariff and non-tariff barriers between Asean and India and said all issues should be addressed before the next round of discussions of AEM-India,” said Chowdhury.

She added that inputs from particular industries, which have access to the Asean market, should be given a larger capsule in the detailed study ‘to help us understand what others will encounter in the next 15 to 20 years.’

Asean and India together, with a population of 1.8 billion and a combined GDP of $3.8 trillion, has huge potential,” said Sitharaman.

Submitting the 14-point agenda of issues that needed to be resolved to enhance commerce and ease flow of trade, the AIBC said, “The set of recommendations are aimed at strengthening economic ties and smoothening businesses between Asean and India.”

The AIBC recommendations were intended to consolidate ‘mutually beneficial economic engagements between India and the Asean region’. Council members finalized their recommendations after consultative meetings held in New Delhi on July 13 and in Vientiane on August 6.