Hesitancies in an RCEP deal

The major fear of Indian businesses is that the mega deal will give duty-free access to other nations, especially China, resulting in a surge in import of manufactured goods

Last month, the trade ministers of 16 countries, at an 8th ministerial meet in Beijing, called for conclusion of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) talks by early November. Last week, they met again at Bangkok, to reiterate their commitment to quickly sort the issues in question.

This has brought enough pressure on our government to vigorously engage with stakeholders, to participate more actively in the negotiations. RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA), between the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and its six proposed FTA partners (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and