Sonia’s ire on Indo-ASEAN free trade moves
Deccan Herald, Bangalore
Sonia’s ire on Indo-ASEAN free trade moves
7 May 2006
New Delhi, PTI: The Government’s move to go in for more Free Trade Agreements with Asian countries has run into difficulties with Congress President Sonia Gandhi asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to "very carefully scrutinise" India-ASEAN FTA to safeguard interests of domestic farmers.
In a letter to Singh, the Congress chief said she was concerned about the FTAs being signed by the Government as the country’s domestic agriculture sector was in distress particularly in areas like edible oil, coffee, tea and pepper.
"The Congress Party (therefore) feels that instead of opening up the agricultural and manufacturing sector through FTAs, more effective domestic policy measures need to be adopted to protect and strengthen the growers and manufacturers in these sectors," she said in the letter.
Sonia Gandhi’s opposition to FTAs comes at a time when the Prime Minister has advocated the need to go-ahead with FTAs with several Asian countries in a bid to move towards a Pan-Asean FTA.
In the meantime, the Prime Minister’s Trade and Economic Relations Committee met subsequently on May 3 to clear some of the thorny issues in the India-Asean FTA negotiations while approving PTA with Mauritius and South African Customs Union.
Sonia Gandhi said that she was writing to the Prime Minister after bringing this matter to the notice of Commerce Minister Kamal Nath in her capacity as National Advisory Council Chairperson at that time (in March).
