Indo Asean FTA - Challenges and opportunities !

For Kerala, which is a similar country to Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore etc, there are opportunities of benefiting from this ASEAN FTA. More than FTA, the Kerala Government is to be dreaded.

What Keralites should do is to face the challenges thrown by ASEAN FTA. The business equation of Globalisation is " Compete or Die ". So we should compete with the ASEAN countries in products and services and use the opportunities for our benefit.

There is fear in the Keralite mind about the challenges posed by ASEAN countries. Even though the Center says that the pact will work out to the advantage of India ultimately, Keralites feel that Kerala is not yet ready to face up to the challenge.

This fear is bound to be there till Jupiter, the financial planet, leave for Aquarius on Dec 19. Suddenly the 3.5 million workers in the coconut sector and one million fish labourers find themselves threatened.

The Center maintains that what Kerala fears are mere micro losses. India will get access to ASEAN countries' markets and bilateral trade, flourishing now at $ 34 b, will rise to more than $100 b.

We cannot protect a nation in these days of Globalisation. We have to compete or die.

What is a Free Trade Agreement ? It is a trade sans tax. 56 million is the population of ASEAN. India's population stand at 1.17 billion. Who are the ASEAN countries ?

Thailand
Indonesia
Vietnam
Singapore
Philippines
Burma
Malaysia
Laos
Indonesia
Cambodia
Brunei

It was in Oct 2003 the framework of the ASEAN pact was formulated. Bilateral trade rose to $6.93 b in 2000-2001 and in 2008, it stood at $34 b ! Experts point out that bilateral trade will be tenfold in the future !

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