India decided not to join the mega free-trade agreement RCEP in 2019 because the deal was not addressing its concerns and there has been no change in that position since then, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.
The RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) agreement is being negotiated between 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and their six free trade agreement partners Australia, China. , India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Goyal said the structure of RCEP does not adequately address the ambitions and concerns of India’s stakeholders.
Due to that, India has decided not to join the bloc in its current form.
‘Current structure does not address concerns’
Accordingly, on November 4, 2019, at the third RCEP Leaders’ Summit held in Bangkok, India expressed its position that the current structure of RCEP does not address the rest of the country’s issues and concerns.
“There has been no change in India’s position since then,” Goyal said.
He replied to the question that the government is reconsidering joining the agreement.
Important are the comments made by Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam in November that India should be a part of RCEP.
Goyal also said that India’s imports from China have increased to $101.74 billion in 2023-24 from $70.32 billion in 2018-19.
However, compared to the last financial year, the export has dropped to 16.66 billion dollars in 2018-19 compared to 16.75 billion dollars.
“Most of the goods imported from China are capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials and are used to meet the demand of rapidly expanding sectors like electronics, telecom and power in India,” he said.