The negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has completed in the recent meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Singapore. The meeting remained successful as most of the members including India were agree on the final draft of agreement. The deal would be finally signed in December at the India-Asean summit at Bangkok. It is expected to attend by PM Manmohan Singh. It takes six years to complete the talks on FTA.

The Trade Agreement (FTA) would increase trade prospectus in ASEAN countries and people are expected to get duty-free products at low cost. The deal can add $12 billion in the economies of participating nations by 2010. China has already signed such deal with the economic bloc which has increased the bilateral trade between participant nations by $171 billion last year.

In a joint statement after the meeting, the trade ministers of member nations said that the deal would open market for 1.7 billion people. The Indian Commerce and Trade Minister Kamal Nath welcomed the deal. It would enable India to cut custom tariffs on 80 percent goods. The key products such as iron ore and aluminum, plastic goods and certain kinds of machinery are expected to become cheap following cut in the custom duty. The trade ministers of other member nations have also expressed satisfactions on the completion of deal. The deal is expected to be operational from January next year.