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“So effectively and indirectly, I have opened up my market for goods that find their way from China into India,” Goyal had said.
The Congress on Friday hit out at Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for his remarks against the India-ASEAN trade agreements, signed under the UPA government, saying labelling these countries as “B team of China” is “irresponsible and insulting”.
Speaking at the India Global Forum (IGF) session in London, Goyal said, “There was a point of time 15 years ago when we were more focused on doing FTAs with countries who were our competitors. So if I am doing an ASEAN agreement, it really is silly because (that is) opening up my market to my competitors, many of whom have now become the B team of China.”
“So effectively and indirectly, I have opened up my market for goods that find their way from China into India,” Goyal had said.
Sharma, a former Union Commerce Minister, Friday said in a statement, “Piyush Goyal’s statement terming the Trade agreement with ASEAN as silly and labelling these countries as B team of China is irresponsible and insulting.”
He said India and ASEAN countries “have been engaged in a multifaceted relationship for over three decades” which is “mutually rewarding and important”. “This is an integral part of the Look East policy to deepen and diversify India’s relations with a region economically vibrant and of enormous geostrategic importance…”
“The Commerce Minister should be prioritising strengthening trade relations with partner countries and not insulting them while bending backwards to negotiate a suboptimal trade agreement with US on its terms,” he added.
English (US) ·