Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, is in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) to participate in two key economic summits—the 21st ASEAN-India Economic Ministers (AEM-India) Meeting and the 12th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers Meeting (EAS EMM). These annual meetings, hosted this year by Lao PDR as the ASEAN Chair for 2024, bring together ASEAN members and their dialogue partners to discuss regional and global economic cooperation.
The EAS EMM involves economic ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries, alongside eight key partners: India, the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.
During the AEM-India Meeting, ministers will focus on reviewing the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA). A top priority for India, the review aims to simplify and streamline trade processes to foster easier, more efficient business interactions. In the EAS EMM, discussions will center on broader regional and global economic developments, reflecting India’s role as a founding membaer of the East Asia Summit, which marks its 20th anniversary in 2025.
On the sidelines of these meetings, Minister Goyal is scheduled for several bilateral discussions with his counterparts from participating countries. He will meet with the Lao PDR Minister and ministers from Korea, Malaysia, Switzerland, and Myanmar. Additionally, Goyal will engage with the ASEAN Secretary-General and the President of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), a leading think tank in the region. The minister will also meet the Indian diaspora in Lao PDR and an Indian business delegation visiting the ASEAN region.
India, which joined ASEAN in 1992 and became its Comprehensive Strategic Partner in 2022, sees ASEAN as a cornerstone of its Act East Policy. ASEAN has consistently been one of India’s most important trading partners, ranking as India’s second-largest trading partner for the past two years.