Advertisement

Updated March 28th, 2022 at 18:51 IST

Union Min Piyush Goyal says India should not join RCEP negotiations; 'Lost precious time'

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has ruled out India resuming talks to join the 'Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)'

Reported by: Vibhuti Sanchala
Piyush Goyal
Image: PTI | Image:self
Advertisement

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Monday ruled out prospects of India resuming talks to rejoin the 'Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).' He asserted that the country walked out of the negotiations two years ago to provide primacy to the national interest. According to ANI, Goyal stated that some of the countries (during the RCEP negotiations) were not following the rule of law and being opaque when it comes to trade talks. 

Piyush Goyal on India rejoining RCEP

Criticising the then Congress-led UPA administration for joining the negotiations, Goyal said, "India lost precious time because of an ill-conceived decision to start discussing and taking party in the RCEP negotiation." He further added that the decision was adopted 10 years ago by the then government to make India a party to the RCEP negotiations. He also noted that the NDA government "did their very best to engage with the grouping of 15 other countries."

The 15-nation RCEP is touted as the world's largest trading bloc. India joined the RCEP negotiations in the year 2012. Earlier in 2019, 15 nations, comprising China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand among others, signed the free trade agreement. However, India walked out of the negotiations, citing national interests. 

Piyush Goyal said India's diary, agriculture, and MSME sectors would have been badly impacted had the government decided to join the RCEP back in 2019. The Minister said, "We would have been flooded with low quality opaquely priced products against which India could never have competed. It was a very wise decision that Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to walk out of RCEP. The entire country heaved a sigh of relief."

More about RCEP

The nations who have signed the RCEP are China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand alongside 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that include Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Even though India was a participant in the preliminary discussions of the pack, it eventually opted out because of concerns related to cheap Chinese imports. 

RCEP predominantly focuses on the reduction of tariffs and increasing market access, but is reportedly viewed a little less comprehensive than the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which includes all signatories of RCEP except the United States.

Advertisement

Published March 28th, 2022 at 18:51 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo