The 16 RCEP participating nations that are negotiating a mega free trade agreement have agreed to work together to iron out outstanding issues which are fundamental to conclude the talks this year, a joint statement said on Sunday.
The statement was issued after the seventh RCEP ministerial meeting in Bangkok.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is being negotiated among 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and their six trade partners -- Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
"Notwithstanding the remaining challenges in the negotiations, RPCs (RCEP participating countries) are working on addressing outstanding issues that are fundamental to conclude the agreement this year as mandated by the Leaders," it said.
While noting that certain developments in the global trade environment may affect member countries' individual positions in the course of the negotiations, the ministers agreed that members should not lose the long-term vision of deepening and expanding the values chains in the RCEP, it said.
"The ministers recognised that negotiations have reached a critical milestone as the deadline for the conclusion of negotiations draws near," it added.
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It said that successful conclusion of RCEP will provide the much-needed stability and certainty to the market, which will in turn boost trade and investment in the region.
To this end, ministers reaffirmed their collective resolve to bring negotiations to a conclusion, it said.
"The ministers made the collective call to negotiators at all levels to translate this commitment into constructive actions and positive outcomes," it said.
Further it said that uncertainties in global trade and investment environment have dampened growth outlook across the world, with likely impact on businesses and jobs, adding to the urgency and imperative of concluding the RCEP.
The trade ministers gathered in Bangkok to review developments in the RCEP negotiations since the ministers last met in Beijing on August 2-3.
This meeting assumed significance as several sectors have raised serious concerns over the impact of the agreement on domestic industry.
So far 27 rounds of talks have been held.
Indian industry has raised concerns over the presence of China in the grouping with which India has a trade deficit of over USD 50 billion. Various sectors, including dairy, metals, electronics, chemicals, and textiles, have urged the government to not agree on duty cut in these segments.
Amul, which contributes about 4 per cent to India's total dairy production, has sought exclusion of all dairy and dairy products from any liberalisation. Australia and New Zealand are among the largest players in the dairy sector.
India has registered trade deficit in 2018-19 with as many as 11 RCEP countries, including China, South Korea and Australia.
The trade agreement aims to cover issues related to goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.
In the merchandise sector, all the members want India to eliminate customs duties on maximum number of goods as the country's huge domestic market provides immense opportunity for exports.
India trades in over 11,500 products. Certain sensitive sectors like agriculture are mostly kept out of the purview of such agreements to protect the interest of farmers.
Trade experts have mixed views over the agreement.