PHNOM PENH, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- The first meeting of the ASEAN-India Eminent Persons Group (AIEPG) was held here on Wednesday to exchange experience and explore ways to develop economic and trade cooperation.
Cambodian secretary of state for foreign affairs Kao Kim Hourn, the eminent person for Cambodia, said in the meeting that the AIEPG aimed at taking stock of ASEAN-India relations in order to explore ways to widen and deepen existing cooperation between ASEAN and India as well as to recommend measures to further strengthen ASEAN-India relations in the future.
“The group would identify the strengths and expertise of ASEAN and India, seek viable opportunity and recommend practical actions to deepen and broaden the ASEAN-India partnership with the view to enhance mutual trust, benefit and shared prosperity,” he said.
The eminent person from India Isher Judge Ahluwalia, currently chairwoman of the Board of Governors of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), said the meeting was a good chance for ASEAN-India eminent persons group to meet and share ideas on ASEAN-India integration and economic future of prosperity.
According to the document presented in the meeting, India is the seventh largest trading partner and the sixth largest investor in ASEAN.
In 2010, the total trade between ASEAN and India was 53.4 billion U.S. dollars, a growth of 36.6 percent from 39.1 billion U.S. dollars in a year earlier. This accounted for 2.6 percent of the total ASEAN trade in 2010.
As for foreign direct investment (FDI), the inflow from India to ASEAN member states was 2.54 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, an increase of 207.8 percent from 826.18 million U.S. dollars in 2009. This accounted for 4.24 percent of the total FDI into ASEAN.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) group Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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