The statement said the Indian government had offered a line of credit to buoy Indian exports to the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).

Asean's nine members are Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Indian exports to Asean have declined 17.28 per cent in 1997-98 (April-March) and 43.61 per cent in April-May 1998, the statement said.

"...The delegation has offered to extend an Exim Bank line of credit to the importers in these three countries especially for the purchase of high value added items or for new items of trade," the statement said.

"Proposals were also discussed for encouraging bilateral tradewith these three countries in rupees and in local currencies along with a suitable clearing mechanism so that the requirement of hard currency would be restricted to the net balances of trade only," it said.

The Malaysian government said it would welcome the import of Indian rice if it was competitive.

The Reserve Bank of India has also agreed "in principal" to sign the bilateral payment agreement with Malaysia, the statement said.

"The National Food Authority of Philippines indicated that they were very seriously considering restarting the import of Indian rice through one of the Indian government agencies," the statement said. It added that Thailand had also assured to streamline the value added tax refund procedures to boost Indian exports of gems and jewellery.