New Delhi: ASEAN, with over 15 percent share in India’s global engineering shipment, is likely to be a key region to focus on with a target of around USD 16 billion of exports for 2021-22. “India-ASEAN Engineering Partnership Summit” organized by Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC) with the support from the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Commerce got inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Ms. Anupriya Patel on 24^th August 2021.

The summit was mainly focused on the engineering sector, offering 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.

Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Ms. Anupriya Patel said that trade is an important engine of growth for India and ASEAN and 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.

Also, ASEAN- the largest destination of Indian Exports 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 the 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.

Ms. Patel further said that both India and ASEAN have a large share of the 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.

The Prime Minister of India has also 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’, the Government of India 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.

The summit will cover 300 delegates, 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 the Government of Haryana was “Focus State”.