India
"Gone are days when Indian negotiators caved in to pressures from global powers on trade issues," the Prime Minister added.
Updated : Nov 04, 2019, 07:11 PM IST | Edited by : Joydeep Bose
India will not be joining the mega trading deal -- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as its key concerns have not been addressed and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that New Delhi will not compromise on "core interests".
PM Modi speaking at the 3rd RCEP meet in Bangkok said, "The present form of the RCEP Agreement does not fully reflect the basic spirt and the agreed guiding principles of RCEP. It also does not address satisfactorily India's outstanding issues and concerns In such a situation, it is not possible for India to join the RCEP Agreement."
Govt Sources: Gone are days when Indian negotiators caved in to pressures from global powers on trade issues. This time,India played on front foot, stressing on need to address India’s concerns over trade deficits&need for countries to open markets to Indian services&investments https://t.co/DQyH2ZAB6F pic.twitter.com/uiijnrYgQm
— ANI (@ANI) November 4, 2019
The Prime Minister added, "When I measure the RCEP Agreement with respect to the interests of all Indians, I do not get a positive answer. Therefore, neither the Talisman of Gandhiji nor my own conscience permits me to join RCEP. "
Govt Sources: In speech at RCEP summit,PM Modi said 'Our farmers, traders,professionals and industries have stakes in such decisions. Equally important are workers& consumers who make India a huge market&third biggest economy in terms of purchasing power parity.' (file visuals) pic.twitter.com/1Z2sRVVsL1
— ANI (@ANI) November 4, 2019
The key issues that concerned New Delhi, included inadequate protection against import surge, insufficient differential with China, keeping the base year as 2014 and no credible assurances on market access and non-tariff barriers.
RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of ASEAN and six FTA partners.
The RCEP deal will now go ahead with 15 countries. The negotiation for the deal started in 2012 in Cambodia and will be one of the biggest Free trade agreement in the world.