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F: 89/ Cir: 23
7 July 2016
To : All members of the Council
Sub: Exchange of Tariff concessions under the Fourth Round of Negotiations under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement and related amendments
Dear Sir / Madam,
We have received letter from Mr. Dinesh Kumar, Director, DCPC, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, GOI, regarding Exchange of Tariff concessions under the Fourth Round of Negotiations under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement and related amendments.
Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) is an initiative under the United Nations Economic and Social commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) for trade expansion through exchange of tariff concessions among developing country members of the Asia pacific region. The original agreement was signed on 31st July 1975. The current membership of APTA consists of 6 countries. I.e. Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, republic of Korea and Sri Lanka. Tariff concessions have been exchanged between these countries in three rounds of negotiations till 2003. The fourth Round of negotiations were launched on 2007.
APTA is a low ambition agreement. The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are entitled for greater concessions as per earlier negotiations as well as under ASEAN FTA. China and Korea may be of concern to India. With Korea, India is already having FTA and most of the Margin of Preference (MOP) on custom duties is in line with India Korea FTA. China also has offers MOP on various items to India. The exact MOP as well as number of items being offered by India may not match with the Chinese offer as both the countries may have different duty structure and manufacturing capabilities in various items. The average margin of Preference is around 33% in the APTA being offered by India.
In this context, you are kindly requested to furnish your comments/inputs on various items in Chapter 28, 29, 32 & 38 for the proposed Margin of Preference which is in the range of 5% to 45%.
If any changes in the Margin of Preference (MOP) are required, the same may be indicated with detailed technical justification/reasons.
You are requested to kindly provide your comments / suggestions urgently via return email.
Thanks & regards,
H S KARANGLE
Director General
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