‘ASEAN Countries eyeing Kerala as major Business & Investment Destination’

A high profile delegation from ASEAN led by His Excellency Mr Nguyen Thanh Tan, Ambassador of Vietnam and Chairman of ANDC (ASEAN- New Delhi Committee) visited Kochi today for promoting and harboring Business Ties between ASEAN Nations and Kerala. The delegation consisted of Ambassadors, Trade & High Commissioners from 7 ASEAN Countries including Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia & Myanmar. With this background, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Kerala had organized an Interactive Session with the ASEAN Heads of Mission at Hotel Casino, Willingdon Island.

ASEAN region has emerged as an important trading partner of India over the last one decade. India and ASEAN signed a Free Trade Agreement in 2009, which came into force from January 2010. Negotiations for agreement on services and investment between India and ASEAN countries have been concluded recently. India has also signed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements (CECA) with Malaysia and Singapore and is currently negotiating CECA with Thailand and Indonesia.

CII has been actively engaged with the ASEAN region for over two decades and even supported the recently held ASEAN India Car Rally 2012 which covered 8 of the 10 ASEAN Nations. Also, the recently held Emerging Kerala has truly managed to grab the World’s attention to Kerala and has been successful in transforming the image of Kerala into a Business and Investment friendly destination. The delegation’s visit to Kerala was aiming for two-way dissemination of information among the local industry on business opportunities in the ASEAN region and to strengthen the local industry and as well as to explore possibilities of collaboration and investment.

The Meeting was attended by the top Business Heads of Kerala including Muthoot, Dhathri Ayurveda, Ernst & Young; Fruitoman’s; Glass & Glazing Systems; Escapade Resorts; Synthite;
V-Guard; Western India Cashew and others. The delegation also interacted with the corporates regarding the potential avenues of Business in ASEAN countries and How Kerala could benefit from it.