India, ASEAN set to finalise services and investment pact

India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to seal a deal on services and investments on Thursday, after they concluded formal free trade negotiations in New Delhi today.

The two sides have concluded discussions on a free-trade agreement on services and investment and the pact will be announced on Thursday, trade ministers from the ASEAN bloc and India said today.

The early operationalisation of the services and investment agreement will provide greater impetus to trade and investment flows between India and the ASEAN, India's minister for commerce, industry and textiles, Anand Sharma, said today.

Earlier, inaugurating the second India-ASEAN Business Fair- 2012 in New Delhi, Sharma expressed confidence that the two-way trade between India and the ASEAN countries ''will be able to reach $100 billion mark by 2015''.

Sharma urged trade ministers from the ASEAN to diversify their trade basket and help develop supply chains with a focus on intra-industry trade, so that the economic gains on both sides would be substantial.

Sharma also called for strengthening ASEAN regional connectivity in order to realise the true potential of the economies.