ASEAN, India sign free trade deal: officialsIndia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), organization established by the Bangkok Declaration (1967), linking the nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. (ASEAN ASEAN: see Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN in full Association of Southeast Asian Nations International organization established by the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand in ) signed a free-trade agreement on Thursday expected to raise annual trade to 60 billion dollars within seven years, officials said. "The signing today is a good sign of the extended trade between ASEAN and India," said Porntiva Nakasai, commerce minister of Thailand, which holds the 10-member regional bloc's rotating ro·tate v. ro·tat·ed, ro·tat·ing, ro·tates v.intr. 1. To turn around on an axis or center. 2. chairman ship. "The agreement comes at an appropriate time taking into account the current world economic crisis," she said in a statement. The agreement has been hailed as a milestone following years of tough negotiations between ASEAN and India, its seventh-largest trading partner. It covers billions of dollars in trade and a market of 1.7 billion people. The signing came ahead of a meeting in Bangkok this weekend of finance ministers from ASEAN and its regional partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. . Trade between ASEAN and India totaled 47 billion dollars last year but would rise to 60 dollars billion under the pact, Dow Jones newswires Dow Jones Newswires is the real-time financial news organization owned by Dow Jones. Founded in 1882, its primary competitors are Bloomberg L.P. and Reuters. The company reports more than 420,000 subscribers -- including brokers, traders, analysts and fund managers -- as of July quoted Thai Commerce Ministry spokesman Krisda Piampongsant as saying. The Southeast Asian bloc of about 550 million people is forging free trade pacts A trade pact is a wide ranging tax, tariff and trade pact that often includes investment guarantees. Trade pacts are frequently politically contentious since they may change economic customs and deepen interdependence with trade partners. with key regional economies, including China and India, to ensure it does not become economically sidelined. ASEAN itself aims to achieve a single market and manufacturing base by 2015. 
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