Amidst high hope, India and the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) plan to sign a historic free trade agreement (FTA) on services and investment in the scheduled two-day ASEAN summit on Dec. 20 and 21, which for the first time, India will host in its capital, New Delhi. In this mega meet, several ASEAN leaders -- as many as nine Presidents and Prime Ministers from ten South East Asian Nations -- are putting in a special effort to be present in this India-specific event. Earlier, all India-ASEAN summits were held on the sidelines of the summit proper, that is, always in an ASEAN country. Apart from the FTA with ASEAN, India is also negotiating with the members of the bloc for a market opening pact. Continuing its policy of boosting its ties with the member-countries of this region, India has already implemented FTA with Singapore and Malaysia and is negotiating with Indonesia and Thailand, too. If the formal flagging down on Friday of a car rally that traversed most...(Read Full Post)