MTI consults on review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement
25 March 2025
From 17 February 2025 to 18 March 2025, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (“MTI”) conducted a public consultation on its review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (“AITIGA”). MTI invited businesses and members of the public to provide feedback on the various aspects of AITIGA that could be improved on and other feedback that could be incorporated within the context of a trade in goods agreement.
AITIGA was signed by ASEAN Member States and India on 14 August 2009 and came into effect in October 2010. It paved the way for the creation of one of the world’s largest free trade areas with more than 1.9 billion people and a combined GDP of US$5.36 trillion.
The implementation of AITIGA contributed to the expansion of two-way trade between ASEAN and India. It committed Parties to liberalise tariffs in over 90% of product lines, comprising tariff elimination on 80% of product lines and tariff reduction on 10% of product lines to 5% by 2016.
Review of AITIGA
The review of AITIGA was launched by ASEAN and India leaders at the 17th ASEAN Economic Ministers’-India Consultations on 29 August 2020 (“AITIGA Review”). The AITIGA Review involves a comprehensive review of existing provisions and will also seek to address implementation issues to make it more relevant to current global trading practices.
The aims of the AITIGA Review include:
- making the agreement more user-friendly, simple, trade facilitative for businesses by enhancing trade commitments and facilitation;
- simplifying customs procedures; and
- enabling further engagements between ASEAN and India through economic and technical cooperation programmes.
Reference materials
The following materials are available on the MTI website www.mti.gov.sg: