Present form of RCEP agreement does not address satisfactorily India's outstanding issues and concerns: PM Modi
Nov 04, 2019
New Delhi, Nov 04 (ANI): According to government sources, India has decided not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the key concerns are not addressed, and that the present agreement doesn’t fully reflect the basic spirit of RCEP. “When we look around we see during seven years of RCEP negotiations many things including global economic and trade scenarios have changed. We can't overlook these changes. Present RCEP Agreement doesn’t fully reflect basic spirit of RCEP',” government sources quoted PM Modi as saying in Bangkok where he attended the RCEP Summit on November 04. “Thousands of years before RCEP was conceived, Indian traders, entrepreneurs and common people built abiding contacts with this region. For centuries, these contacts and ties made valuable contribution to our shared prosperity,” the sources further quoted PM Modi. “Gone are days when Indian negotiators caved into 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 and need for countries to open markets to Indian services and investments,” the sources said.
