Indian officials will hold bilateral meetings with a few countries, including
China and some ASEAN members, in the coming days to iron out issues
hindering negotiations of RCEP mega trade deal, an official said.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a mega free
trade agreement, which aims to cover goods, services, investments,
economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property
rights.
After the bilateral meetings, the RCEP members will meet for the 25th round
of negotiations in mid-February in Indonesia, the official added.
RCEP bloc comprises 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and
Vietnam) and their six FTA partners - India, China, Japan, South Korea,
Australia and New Zealand.
The main issues that needs resolution include number of goods on which
import duties should be completely eliminated and norms to relax services
trade.
RCEP members want India to eliminate or significantly reduce customs
duties on maximum number of goods it traded globally. India’s huge
domestic market provides immense opportunity of exports for the member
countries.
However, lower level of ambitions in services and investments, a key area of
interest for India, does not augur well for the agreement that seeks to be
comprehensive in nature.
Under services, India wants greater market access for its professionals in the
proposed agreement.
Trade experts have warned that India should negotiate the agreement
carefully, as it has trade deficit with as many as 10 RCEP members, including
China, South Korea and Australia, among others.
“India should not try to negotiate trade offs between goods and services as it
may prove counter-productive in the long run. Trade off should be
negotiated either between goods or between services,” an expert, who did not
wish to be named, said.
India wants to have a balanced RECP trade agreement as it would cover 40
per cent of the global GDP and over 42 per cent of the world’s population.
India already has a free trade pact with Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN), Japan and South Korea.
It is also negotiating a similar agreement with Australia and New Zealand
but has no such plans for China.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, India Wednesday, 26 December 2018