Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Ms. Anupriya Patel today inaugurated the “India-ASEAN Engineering Partnership Summit” organised by Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) with the support from Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Commerce.The focus of today’s summit is on collaborations in engineering sector. The summit offers an important platform for engagement of Indian industry on India-ASEAN partnership in engineering trade and investments. This forum will also be instrumental in achieving the landmark export target set by the government both in terms of engineering as well as merchandise exports.

 

While addressing the inaugural session,the Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Ms. Anupriya Patel congratulated the EEPC India for organizing the summit with one of the largest trade partners, ASEAN. Ms Patel said that trade is an important engine of growth for India and ASEAN. She said engineering exports constitutes one-fourth of the merchandise exports and is the largest foreign exchange earners among all export sectors and the performance of engineering exports has been remarkable in the last few years. ASEAN, with over 15 percent share in India’s global engineering shipment, is likely to be a key region to focus with a target of around USD 16 billion of exports for 2021-22.

 

She added, as one of the largest destinations for Indian exports, ASEAN will be an important region for India with an export target of US$ 46 billion in meeting the global export target of US$ 400 billion in financial year 2021-22.ASEAN as a region is the third largest export destination of Indian engineering products after EU and North America. Among the ASEAN member nations, Singapore and Malaysia are major export destinations for Indian engineering products.

 

Further in her address, Ms. Patel said that both India and ASEAN have large share of skilled population, robust service and manufacturing sectors and there are many complementary sectors and products available for greater cooperation. With a combined economy of approx. US$ 5.8 trillion, there is significant potential for enhancing trade and investment partnership between India and ASEAN.

 

She said Government has taken numerous measures to make India an even more attractive destination for foreign direct investment. Ms. Patel further said that Prime Minster of India has set a target of USD 400 billion of merchandise exports for fiscal 2021-22 and also envisioned a roadmap to achieve this milestone. As a part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’. TheGovernment has recently approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme worth US$ 26 billion covering 13 sectors, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, solar modules, specialty steel, automobiles, and medical devices for attracting investment and enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities.

           

Supported by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of External Affairs, the four-day India-ASEAN Engineering Partnership Summit is expected to see the participation of over 300 delegates from the Indian industry. A sizable number of delegates from ASEAN countries will also join the summit. The summit will also cover B2B meetings, interactions etc.The thematic sessions will cover a range of topics including country sessions, and emerging areas of cooperation like Industry 4.0, integration of MSME in the regional value chain.The Government of Tamil Nadu joined the event as “Partner State” while Government of Haryana as “Focus State”.

 

This year is special for both partners as it marks the 25^thanniversary of India-ASEAN dialogue partnership and 10 years of the Strategic Partnership.

 

An E-Book on India-ASEAN trade and investment emphasizing engineering and MSME sector was also launched during the inaugural session. The book covers several important aspects of enhancing bilateral trade and investment and also provides exhaustive information on India and ten ASEAN nations.

 

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