New Delhi: A day after ASEAN co-chair expressed its displeasure over Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal’s ‘B-Team of China’ remark, the Congress hit out at the Government, calling it yet ‘another blow’ to Indian diplomacy.
On Thursday, while speaking at the India Global Forum (IGF) session on UK-India Science, Technology and Innovation Collaboration at the Science Museum in London, Goyal had said: “There was a point of time, 15 years ago, when we were more focused on doing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries who were our competitors. So, if I am doing an ASEAN agreement, it really is silly because that implies opening up my market to my competitors, many of whom have now become the B-Team of China.”
The Malaysian ASEAN co-chair had reacted to this on Friday during a scheduled India-ASEAN meeting at Kuala Lumpur. The ASEAN-India FTA, signed in 2009, is currently undergoing a review to address trade imbalances and other concerns. India seeks a more balanced and sustainable trade relationship with ASEAN.
Congress general secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh posted on X that, “India has very close civilizational, cultural, economic, and political ties with the 10-nation ASEAN Group – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ASEAN, that came into being almost six decades back, has a combined GDP just slightly lower than that of India.”
“The Union Commerce and Industry Minister dismisses them as the “B team of China. ASEAN now ticks him off. Indian diplomacy suffers yet another blow. This was needless,” Ramesh added.
In a statement, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma had said that Goyal’s statement that “belittles India-ASEAN Trade Agreements is unwarranted, ill-advised and unfortunate.”
