RCEP mutually beneficial to all member countries: Nirmala

Emphasising on the need to strengthen economic ties in the Indo-Pacific region, India today said the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement will be mutually beneficial to all the countries in the geography.
India is currently negotiating a mega trade deal with the 16-member RCEP comprising 10 ASEAN members and six 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 in November 2012.
"RCEP is a large ticket trade engagement between economies of the Indo-Pacific and India. India use RCEP as an economic tool to strengthen and deepen our trade ties.

"Given the comprehensive nature of this engagement and the level of development of the economies within the RCEP, the approach has to be more measured and calibrated taking into account the development imperatives of the constituents," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here at an ORF function.
She said that India is engaging constructively in the negotiations and believes that the comprehensive agreement covering all areas will be mutually beneficial to countries in the region.

She also said that India has already inked bilateral free trade pacts with nations in these regions including Japan, S Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

"Bilateral talks are going on with other two Indo-Pacific region counties - Australia and New Zealand. This clearly spells out focused interest in these regions," the minister said.
She said that the region has immense scope to enhance trade and investment ties.
"The prospects for regional integration in the region are therefore promising, though more detailed economic analysis would need to be carried out," she said.
India is pressing for parallel negotiations in goods and services to ensure that the proposed RCEP agreement benefits all nations.