In this issue of the newsletter on ASEAN+5, we highlight the current status of the ongoing India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway project focusing the procedural and financial aspects with its effective and timely implementation. India has been instrumental in implementing the India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT)Trilateral Highway, which will run from Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar. The plan also involves extending it to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and the project forms an important part of India articulating its role in the proposed transportation architecture in the region and beyond.

As India places the Mekong sub-region among its priorities under the country’s ‘Act East’ policy, the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway project––currently the only land

connectivity project between India and the Mekong countries and the wider Southeast Asian region––could prove to be a “game changer”. We are hopeful that the information provided in the newsletter will be useful for our readers.

India’s renewed push to road connectivity with Southeast Asia through the ongoing India-

Myanmar-Thailand Highway Project highlighted the efforts of India to deepen its ties with

the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The further extension of the IMT

highway project to Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam envisaged as an important

connectivity project that would facilitate trade and promote production networks across

the borders. India is also expediting the South Asian Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation

(SASEC) road connectivity programme in the backdrop of China’s ambitious One Belt One

Road (Obor) initiative aimed at connecting around 60 countries across Asia, Africa and

Europe.

In this issue of newsletter, we also highlight the India’s engineering exports scenario to the ASEAN+5 countries

in the first four months of the new fiscal 2017-18.

I hope this newsletter will be insightful for our readers and they will enjoy reading it.

Issue: July 2017

Chairman’s Pen

Message from Chairman, Committee on Trade with ASEAN countries

T S Bhasin

P K Shah

Unrolling the strategic communication link between India and the Mekong countries and the wider Southeast Asian region………..

Brief History:

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400-kilometre-long highway that will link India with

Southeast Asia by land for the first time in decades, giving a boost to trade and cultural exchanges

between the three countries. The hig hway connecting Moreh to Mae Sot via Myanmar was first proposed

at a trilateral ministerial meeting on transport linkages in Yangon in April 2002.

Previous instances:

The domestic government is tapping its toe in giving a renewed push to road connectivity with Southeast

Asia and placing among its priorities under the Country’s Act East Policy. Currently, the solo land

connectivity project between India and Mekong countries and the wider Southeast Asian region––could

prove to be a game changer.

On 13 November 2016, the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMT Highway)

Friendship Car Rally was flagged off in Delhi by our Indian Minister of State for Road Transport

and Highways, Shipping and Chemicals and Fertilizers. The objective of the rally according to

the government was to sensitise stakeholders to the potential benefits of a motor vehicles

agreement (MVA) between the three countries.

Earlier, on 8 September 2016 at the 14 th India-ASEAN Summit held in the Laotian capital of

Vientiane, the Indian government laid stress on the need for further strengthening India’s ties

with the regional bloc ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Emphasising the

significance of overall connectivity, and physical connectivity in particular, as the first step to

enhancing people-to-people contacts, the setting up of a Joint Task Force on connectivity was

proposed to work on extending the IMT highway even further to Cambodia, Laos and

Vietnam.

In connection with the road connectivity links, two MoUs were signed, a month back during

August 2016. The MoUs were signed for the construction and upgradation of bridges and

approach roads in the Tamu-Kyigone-Kalewa section and the Kalewa-Yargyi section of the IMT

highway in Myanmar.

Moving Forward with ASEAN-India Connectivity

The Mekong sub-region, or in other words it is called as the CLMV countries, forms a major part of

mainland Southeast Asia and connects the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea, by land. For India, the

strategic salience of the sub-region lies in the fact that it shares long land and maritime boundaries with

one of the CLMV countries, Myanmar, in the Bay of Bengal, and its important strategic partner Vietnam

has maritime territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea—through which about 50 percent of

India's trade passes.

China has also been on its way connecting the Southeast Asian nations through the” pan-Asian Railway

Network”, these corridors will be part of the China- proposed One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative

and will form the “Indochina Peninsula Corridor”, one of the six trans-regional economic corridors of the

OBOR.

As of now all the high-level visits, several important bilateral MoUs and agreements were reached on a range of areas including defence, trade, and connectivity. Considering the importance of closer regional economic cooperation and integration through enhanced regional connectivity by road, a meeting of the Secretaries of Transport of India, Myanmar and Thailand (IMT) was held in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2015 to reach consensus on signing and operationalising the IMT Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) which has been under negotiation since March 2015. It may be recalled that the text of the MVA was already finalised by the three countries in the Transport Secretaries meeting, held in June 2015 at Bengaluru, India and the meeting at Bangkok was primarily to discuss and finalise the Protocol of the IMT MVA.

The meeting emphasised on the importance of the IMT MVA and its critical role in realising seamless movement of passenger, personal and cargo vehicles along roads linking the IMT countries. The initiative also will establish road connectivity between South Asia and Southeast Asia, which will strengthen economic integration and cooperation between the two sub-regions and boost their collective economic progress and development.

Current Status of the Trilateral Highway

The 2017 Indo-Myanmar joint statement mentioned that “construction work would shortly begin on reconstruction of bridges on the Tamu-Kyigone-Kalewa Road and on the Kalewa-Yargyi sector of the Trilateral Highway.” The deadline has now been set for 2020.

It is important to note that the project already missed its first deadline in 2015 and India has consistently faced difficulty in implementing its projects in Myanmar. The frontier regions of the region are not an easy place to build roads as the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) car rally of 2013 demonstrated, long stretches are motorable but suffer from landslides and steep, hostile terrain which are especially problematic during monsoons.

However, India does have the capacity to take on such projects, the Border Roads Organisation, a wing of the Indian Army constructed and maintained the road from Tamu to Kalemyo-Kalewa road (160 km) between 1997 and 2009. Additionally the Asian Development Bank supports connectivity projects in the region such as the USD$100 million it provided for the 66 km Karaweik to Eindu road in Kayin state of Myanmar. Both are positive signs for Indian connectivity projects in this area.

The importance of the IMT highway cannot be understated as a permanent asset for the three countries. There is already considerable talk on expanding the road to Vietnam. On a sub-regional level the possibilities of creating a development corridor with rural development projects, special economic zones and exclusive economic zones would be a boon to the people of the region. A Motor Vehicles Agreement allowing for the free movement of vehicles between the three countries would be another logical step on completion of the highway.

Fig 1: The India-Myanmar-Thailand Highway Proposed Route Map

A Trilateral Tomorrow- Future ahead

There are certainly areas for strong collaboration between IMT. However it is important to maintain quality standards as well as deadlines with each initiative. For India, successes on the IMT front can be tied into the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) of which Myanmar and Thailand are members. It might also be wise to seek out the support of Japan which can function as a midwife providing not only financial assistance but also ensuring strict measures of quality of initiatives and projects.

ASEAN + five countries include the ten member countries of ASEAN namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, later expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam and also five additional countries including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan and South Korea. Codification of the relations between these nations has seen progress through the development of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership a proposed free-trade agreement involving the 16 countries of ASEAN plus six including India.

Area: 22.5 million Sq. km

Population: 2.23 billion (2016)

GDP: USD 39511.8 billion (2016)

Currency: Australian Dollar ($), Brunei Dollar ($), Cambodian Riel, Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupee (INR), Indonesian Rupiah, Japanese yen, Lao kip, Malaysian Ringgit, Singapore Dollar ($), Thai Baht, South Korean won, Philippine peso, etc ( For more details visit: http://asean.org/asean/asean-member-states/)

Climate: Varies according to different countries

Natural Resources: All the 15 countries collectively possess resources like steam coal, refined tin, nickel ore, gold, bauxite, lead, zinc and copper, petroleum, mineral oil and gas, agricultural products, bauxite, iron ore, tungsten, cobalt and limestone.

Basic Facts of ASEAN+5

Trade Analysis & Statistics

India’s total engineering exports to ASEAN+5 country wise during April-July of 2017-18 stood at US$ 4.47

billion. Some major highlights of engineering exports from India to ASEAN+5 for the month of July 2017 and

cumulative exports during April-July 2017 are given below:

In the month of July 2017, India’s engineering exports to ASEAN+5 stood at US $ 1255.8 million which

is 24.3% of the total global engineering exports of India during the same period.

India’s engineering exports to ASEAN+5 maintained positive growth both on a cumulative basis as well

as on monthly basis.

China topped the list for Indian engineering exports for cumulative exports during April-July 2017-18

and Singapore topped the list for Indian engineering exports on monthly basis during July 2017

compared to July 2016. During April-July 2017, major engineering products exported to the country

include Iron and Steel, Copper and products, Aluminium and products, Ship, Boats and Floating Bodies,

Electric machinery, Industrial Machinery and parts, Auto Component and parts, etc.

China recorded huge positive growth in imports from India to the extent of 48% in July 2017 compared

to July 2016 among the fifteen countries.

Top 5 nations which had the highest demand for Indian engineering products during April-July of 2017-18 in

absolute values include:

Values in US$ million

COUNTRY APRIL-JULY 2016 APRIL-JULY 2017 Growth (%)

CHINA 399.5 803.8 101.2

SINGAPORE 990.3 713.1 -28.0

KOREA RP 386.9 610.2 57.7

MALAYSIA 599.8 440.6 -26.5

INDONESIA 496.5 437.2 -12.0

Source: DGCI&S, Government of India

A comparison of top 5 nations which had the highest demand for Indian engineering products during April-

July 2016 and its subsequent change in April- July 2017 is shown in the pie chart below:

Trade Analysis & Statistics

Fig 1: Change in Engineering Export among the top 5 ASEAN+5 countries (April-July 2017 viz-a-viz April- July 2016)

Source: DGCI&S, Government of India

Fig 2: Trend in Total Engineering Export in ASEAN +5 during April-July 2017 (Month wise)

Source: DGCI&S, Government of India

1036.3 987.2

1196.01255.8

0.0

200.0

400.0

600.0

800.0

1000.0

1200.0

1400.0

APRIL, 2017 MAY, 2017 JUNE, 2017 JULY, 2017

India's Exports to ASEAN+5 Countries during April-July 2017 (Monthwise)

ASEAN+5 Countries

CHINA, 10%

SINGAPORE, 25%

KOREA RP, 10%

MALAYSIA, 15%

INDONESIA, 12%

April-July, 2016

CHINA, 18%

SINGAPORE, 16%

KOREA RP, 14%

MALAYSIA, 10%

INDONESIA, 10%

April-July, 2017

Top 10 engineering panels exported to ASEAN+5 during April-July 2017 viz-a-viz April-July 2016 are provided in

bar diagram along with their respective values.

Fig 2: Top 10 engineering panels exported to ASEAN+5 in April-July 2017 viz-a-viz April-July 2016

Source: DGCI&S, Government of India

Singapore and India foreign ministers reaffirm close ties

Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, recently met his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj to exchange views on both bilateral and regional issues. They also reviewed cooperation in defence and trade, among other areas. Both ministers co-chaired the fifth meeting of the India-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee for bilateral cooperation. "Both sides discussed a wide range of bilateral issues of shared interests and mutual concerns," said a statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The MEA said the two ministers also reviewed upcoming high-level exchanges, commemoration of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Asean and 25 years of the India-Asean dialogue partnership. Read more: http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/singapore-and-india-foreign-ministers-reaffirm-close-ties

342.7

345.1

283.9

1033.0

274.9

234.5

214.6

167.5

109.6

155.5

752.3

539.4

477.6

404.9

282.4

260.4

242.2

193.7

177.8

145.2

0.0 200.0 400.0 600.0 800.0 1000.0

Iron and Steel

Copper and products

Aluminium and products

Ship, Boats and Floating bodies

Electric Machinery and equipment

Industrial Machinery and parts

Auto Components/Part

Products of Iron and Steel

IC Engines and Parts

Motor Vehicle/cars

APRIL,2017 - JULY,2017 APRIL,2016 - JULY,2016

News in Focus

India says ASEAN crucial to Asia-Pacific security

India is actively boosting its economic and strategic security ties with the ASEAN nations under the government’s Act East Policy. Amid China’s growing footprint in the Indo-Pacific region, India recently said that the 10-nation ASEAN bloc plays a central role in the security of the Asia-Pacific region. From the Indian perspective, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) occupies a central place in the security architecture of the Asia-Pacific region, as discussed during the 15th Asean-India foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila. “It is our view that precisely because ASEAN represents the cultural, commercial and physical cross-roads of the region, it has a unique ability to reflect and harmonise larger interests of the world beyond it,” the ministerial meeting focused. Minister of State for external affairs clarified that these comments came even as Indian and Chinese troops are in a tense standoff situation along the Sikkim sector of the international border after a construction party of China’s People’s Liberation Army entered the Doklam region in Bhutan in mid-June ostensibly to build a road there. Singh said that the silver jubilee of the dialogue partnership is being celebrated through a broad range of governmental, business, diaspora, cultural and civil society interactions in India, as also in ASEAN nations, culminating in a special ASEAN India Commemorative Summit, which “would be an affirmation of our shared quest for prosperity, stability and security”.

Read more: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-says-asean-crucial-to-asia-pacific-security/story-

AyGET9gsX0MLeLsQLHtyLN.html

Vietnam pushes for stronger India-Asean ties

Vietnam is also an important member of Asean and is gearing up to receive US President in Hanoi. With the Indian government all set to visit the Philippines soon to strengthen India’s engagement with Asean (Association of South-east Asian nations) as well as to attend the East Asia Summit, Vietnamese ambassador to India pitched for more Indo-Asean engagement, hailing India as Vietnam’s “brother”.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in the national capital, the envoy also confirmed that the Vietnamese Prime Minister will represent his country at the “Special Asean-India Summit” and Republic Day celebrations in January at which India is expected to host leaders from all 10 ASEAN nations in honour of the completion of 25 years of Indo-ASEAN engagement and partnership. Vietnam, like India, has fought a border war with China earlier and remains wary of the Chinese dragon’s moves in the South China Sea (SCS) since it has a maritime territorial dispute with China in the region.

Read more: http://www.asianage.com/india/all-india/081117/vietnam-pushes-for-stronger-india-asean-ties.html

RCEP summit: India under pressure to cut tariffs further

India’s Prime Minister is likely to participate in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit in Manila later in November where the country will face more pressure to improve its commitments for eliminating tariffs in goods and agree to an early conclusion of the mega trade deal.

“While officials at the recent negotiating round of RCEP in South Korea failed to agree on a joint statement that the heads-of-state from the RCEP countries would adopt in Manila, efforts would be made by members, including the ASEAN, to finalise crucial numbers and dates at the Summit meeting,” a government official told BusinessLine.

India’s recent round of improved market access offers in goods faced criticism at the negotiating round in South Korea in October as most members, including the ASEAN, said that the improvements were cosmetic and the country needed to commit to open up much more.

The ASEAN is keen that countries should agree to remove duties on at least 90 per cent of traded items while some other members like Australia want the number to be much higher. India, on the other hand, has made much lower commitments, especially for China, which is a key competitor of the country in its domestic market.

Read more: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/rcep-summit-india-under-pressure-to-cut-tariffs-

further/article9937276.ece

India’s stance wavering on Belt and Road initiative, says China

India has opposed the Belt and Road, whose CPEC cuts through Pakistan-controlled Kashmir which New

Delhi claims as its own.

Russian ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev recently said there should be a dialogue between India

and China over the issue. Though China enshrined the Belt and Road Initiative in its constitution, India will continue to oppose the

ambitious plan even as several other nations of late echoed its views on connectivity projects.

Two days after the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party concluded after enshrining

President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Thursday

indicated that New Delhi would remain firm in its opposition to the mega-connectivity plan.

“We have the silk road. We probably have more ownership on the silk road than anybody else, even if...

we lost the branding on the route. But the point is that we have a certain view of how connectivity

projects should come about,” Jaishankar said.

India has long been opposing China’s Belt and Road Initiative, arguing that the connectivity initiatives

must be “based on universally recognised international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness,

transparency and equality”.

India has said that China embarked on the cross-continental connectivity initiative without broad

consultations with other nations and stakeholders.

Read more: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/639537/will-continue-oppose-belt-road.html\

Location Title Deadline

Indonesia Procurement Of Instrument Fittings And Hot Tap Drill 211 At Pt. Pertamina Ep Asset 2 Limau Field

13th Nov-2017

Philippines Procurement Of 10 Units Customized Passenger Vehicle

1st Dec 2017

Philippines Procurement Of 3 Units Mini Dumptruck For Various Barangays

1st Dec 2017

Indonesia Procurement Of Equipment, Machine Of Motor Vehicle Testing Equipment.

31st Dec 2017

China The Avalon Project (480b) Of Tianjin Faw Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. 5th Dec 2017

Philippines

Procurement Of General Support Services-construction Of Water Waste Treatment Facility, Lopez Jaena Commercial Center, Lopez Jaena

4th Dec 2017

Philippines Agricultural Machinery And Equipment 7th Dec 2017

Indonesia Procurement Of Equipment, Machine Of Motor Vehicle Testing Equipment.

31st Dec 2017

New Zealand Vacuum Sewer Monitoring System 6th Dec 2017

Thailand Hire Contractors To Install And Dismantle Scaffolds 3rd Dec 2017

For more contract notices, Please register with Tender info and follow the link: http://www.tendersinfo.com/

and search for respective countries.

Business opportunities

EEPC India ASEAN Territorial Newsletter Contact: Shrilata Ghosh

Email: sghosh@eepcindia.net Phone no: 033-40120360