India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have clinched a trade pact that took nearly six years of talks to finalise. This will create a new free trade area of 1.7 billion people and cover 11 countries, India and the ten ASEAN states, with a combined Gross Domestic Product of $2.3 trillion as of now. The conclusion of negotiations on the trade-in-goods agreement was announced here on Thursday, following the latest annual ASEAN-India consultations among economic ministers. The fine text will now be firmed up, and the target timeline for signature is the ASEAN-India summit in Bangkok in December. Hailing India''s trade-in-goods accord with ASEAN, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and Singapore''s Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said here on Thursday that talks on the proposed services-and-investment pact would start soon. The target timeline for this is December 2009. Indonesian Minister Mari Pangestu said the new deal reflected a level of understanding that was never before experienced in the India-ASEAN engagement.
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