Indian PM to attend India-ASEAN Summit in Brunei

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will Wednesday leave for Brunei Darussalam on a two-nation visit during which he will attend the India-ASEAN Summit in Brunei and sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services with ASEAN countries, said officials here Tuesday. The anchor points of India-ASEAN relations are economic growth and prosperity, capacity building and strategic issues and India aims to expand its trade ties with ASEAN countries through a FTA in services, said the officials. India has been implementing its "Look East Policy" which stresses economic and trade ties with ASEAN countries, the fourth largest trading partner of India with a total bilateral trade volume of some 70 billion U.S. dollars. With the signing of an FTA in services, India expects to increase its trade with the 10-member economic bloc to 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2015. After visiting Brunei, Singh will also pay an official visit to Indonesia.