India committed to work for early conclusion of RCEP

India today said it is committed to work with other countries for early conclusion of mutually acceptable RCEP agreement - a mega trade deal of 16 countries.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is in Kuala Lumpur to attend the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) inter-sessional ministerial meetings.
"She reiterated the importance attached by India to RCEP negotiations and conveyed India's continued commitment to work with other countries to conclude a mutually acceptable RCEP agreement," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
The 16-member bloc comprises 10 ASEAN members and their six free trade agreement (FTA) partners namely India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The 16 economies account for over a quarter of the world economy. RCEP negotiations were launched in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in November, 2012.
Sitharaman also met her Malaysian counterpart Mustapa Mohamed and discussed issues relating to the ongoing RCEP negotiations as well as ways to enhance bilateral trade and investment.

She mentioned that Malaysia is key to India's economic engagement with South East Asia and outlined the series of new initiatives taken by India to attract FDI as well as improve ease of doing business.
"She invited the Malaysian business community to participate in India's growth story," it said.
Malaysian companies have invested around USD 6 billion in India over the years and additionally taken up several billions of US dollars worth of projects in India, especially in infrastructure and construction sectors, it added.

The bilateral trade between India and Malaysia stood at USD 16.95 billion in 2014-15.