In the AEM-India meeting, the Ministers reviewed the progress in negotiations for the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA). The review of ‘AITIGA’ is high on India’s priority to make it more user friendly, simple and trade facilitative for businesses. In EAS EMM, the Ministers deliberated on regional and global economic developments. India is the founding member of East Asia Summit Forum which is completing its two decades next year.

Representing India, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal is visiting Laos’ Capital City Vientiane for these two days to participate in the 21st ASEAN-India Economic Ministers (AEM-India) meeting and the 12th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers Meeting (EAS EMM).

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a landlocked country with a population of just over 7 million. It is one of the 10 member countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

These annual meetings of ASEAN with their dialogue partners are being hosted this year by Lao PDR, the ASEAN Chair for 2024. EAS EMM is witnessed participation by Economic Ministers of 10 ASEAN countries, and 8 other EAS partners viz. India, USA, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

As per an official release, Minister Goyal will have several bilateral meetings with his counterparts from participating countries on the sidelines of two institutional meetings. Meetings have been scheduled with the Minister of host country Lao PDR and visiting Ministers from Korea, Malaysia, Switzerland and Myanmar. The Minister will also meet the ASEAN Secretary General and President of ERIA, a premier research institute for Asia and the Pacific. The minister will also have an interaction with the Indian diaspora in Lao PDR and will also meet a visiting industry delegation from India as well as ASEAN.

India joined ASEAN in 1992 and became its Comprehensive Strategic Partner in 2022. ASEAN is at the heart of India’s Act East Policy, announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2014. ASEAN is one of India’s most important trading partners.

Laos is traversed by the Mekong River and is known for its mountainous terrain, French colonial architecture, hill tribe settlements and Buddhist monasteries. Vientiane, the capital, is the site of the That Luang monument, where a reliquary reportedly houses the Buddha’s breastbone. It also has the Patuxai war memorial. Its Talat Sao (Morning Market) is always a complex jammed with food, clothes and craft stalls.

The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the only legal political party in the Lao PDR, which is one of the few socialist states openly endorsing communism.