Chief Industries of the Countries

Country	Industries
Afghanistan	Dry and fresh fruits, wool carpets
Australia	Wool, dairy products, meat
Austria	Textile, leather goods, electro-technical machines
Brazil	Foot wear, coffee, iron ore
Belgium	Glass, textiles, transport equipment
Canada	Newsprint, machinery
Chile	Copper, iron ore
Congo	Oil, tobacco, plywood
Cuba	Sugar, tobacco, textiles, chemicals
Denmark	Fur,farm products
France	Textile, wine, silk, iron and steel products
Germany	Machinery, chemicals, iron and steel products
Ghana	Cocoa, gold, coffee
India	Jute, textile, sugar, hides and skins, tobacco, tea, cement, mica
Indonesia	Sugar, spices, rubber, rice, petroleum, carpets, leather
Iran	Petroleum, carpets, dry fruits
Iraq	Dates, Petroleum
Italy	Mercury, textiles, foodstuffs, footwear
Japan	Machinery, textiles, toys, silk, automobiles, electronic goods
Kenya	Coffee, tea, meat, sisal, hides, skins, cement, soda ash
Kuwait	Petroleum, Shrimp
Malaysia	Rubber, tin, timber, petroleum
Netherlands	Machinery, natural gas, chemicals
Saudi Arabia	Oil, dates, petroleum and its products
Spain	Lead, fresh fruits, textiles
Sweden	Matches, timber, iron ore
Switzerland	Watches, chemicals, electrical
Taiwan	Camphor, rice
UK	Textiles, medicines, machinery cars
USA	Petroleum, wheat, machinery, coal, automobiles, iron, grains
Russia	Petroleum, wheat, chemicals, heavy machinery, iron, gold
Vietnam	Tin, rice, rubber, teak, mineral ores

Why India Needs This Pact ?(ASEAN RELATED)

Why India Needs This Pact ?

1. China has already signed a pact with ASEAN and this has dramatically increased the exports of China.
2. Since India's trade agreements with European Union will take a long time, to boost her exports India needs to sign this kind of bilateral agreements.
3. ASEAN has 600 million people and its GDP is about the same as India's ( India is a $1.1 trillion Economy), so the FTA will open up a substantial market, not far from home, for Indian exporters.
4. ASEAN is also a critical component in the country's "Look East" policy, and there is already a regrettable history of failure to meet past FTA signing deadlines.
5. China is already active in the ,market and we can't afford any economically set back by not signing this agreement.
6. The FTA is said to have the potential to multiply bilateral trade between India and ASEAN. India has several compulsions under its ‘Look East’ policy to be in good terms with its southeastern neighbours which are close to China.
7. In 2008, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN totalled US$231.1 billion, up 14 percent from 2007.

Background of India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement

What is Background of India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement?

1. The Indo-Asean Free trade pact will be signed this December at the India-Asean summit at Bangkok, which is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
2. This agreement will require India to lower and abolish duties on 85 percent of its imports from the region between 2010 and 2019.
3. Initial bilateral framework of this agreement was signed in Bali on 8 October 2003, and the pact was supposed to be finalised by 30 June 2005. Negotiations on services would start in 2005 and end in 2007.
4. However there were a lot of impediments over a period of five years, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have finally negotiated a bilateral free trade agreement — with plenty of difficulty.
5. The negotiations came to a halt in June 2006 when India released its ’negative list’ of items to be excluded from tariff reductions — with 900 products, both industrial and agricultural, figuring on the list. India had initially given the negative list of 1410 items which was reduced in 2006 to 900 items.
6. India’s agriculture ministry, in particular, was arguing hard to exclude commodities like rubber, pepper, tea, coffee and palm oil from the deal. Rules of origin have been the other thorny issue.
7. In August 2006, Delhi issued a revised list, the number of the negative list items was cut down to 560 items.
8. By early 2007, in the midst of the new bio fuels boom, palm oil became a central blockage point as Indonesia and Malaysia, both top palm oil exporters, struggled to get India to lower its tariffs.
9. On 28 August 2008, a deal was finally concluded. The agreement is supposed to be signed in 2009.

AFTA

What is ASEAN Free Trade Area?

1. ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade bloc agreement by the ASEAN supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries.
2. The AFTA agreement was signed on 28 January 1992 in Singapore.
3. When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members, namely, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
4. Vietnam joined in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999.
5. AFTA now comprises the ten countries of ASEAN.
6. All the four latecomers were required to sign the AFTA agreement in order to join ASEAN, however they were were given longer time frames in which to meet AFTA's tariff reduction obligations.

Asean

What is ASEAN?
Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Membership has expanded since then to include Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. So there are 10 economies in ASEAN.

Aims of ASEAN:

1. Acceleration of economic growth,
2. Social progress,
3. Cultural development among its members,
4. The protection of the peace and stability of the region,
5. To provide opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully.
   
   
   ASEAN is a area with combined nominal GDP of USD $1.4 trillion in 2008.