After India's decision against joining RCEP, Cong says 'victory for all fighting for protecting national interests'

After India decided not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, the Congress on Monday termed this a victory for all fighting for protecting national interests.

"A forceful opposition by @INCIndia & @RahulGandhi ensures that BJP Govt backs down from bartering the interests of farmers, dairy producers, fishermen, small & medium businesses at the altar of political expediency. A victory for all fighting for protecting national interests," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.

"With rampant unemployment, a sinking economy & deep agrarian crisis emanating from utter mismanangement of economy by BJP Govt, signing RCEP would have been catastrophic. Modi Govt was pushing to sign RCEP without addressing genuine concerns & national interests," he said.

"India's farmers & MSME's had genuine unaddressed concerns about- 1. Circumvention of Rules of Origin to dump Chinese goods; 2. Absence of safeguards to prevent against import surges at the cost of domestic industry; 3. No assurance on market access for service & IT industry," he said in a subsequent tweet.

India has decided not to join the RCEP agreement as its key concerns have not been addressed, government sources said.

They said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood firm as India's key concerns were not addressed.

The key issues include- inadequate protection against import surge, insufficient differential with China, possible circumvention of rules of origin, the base year remaining as 2014 and no credible assurances on market access and non-tariff barriers.

The Prime Minister had said earlier that India remains committed to a comprehensive and balanced outcome of RCEP negotiations and seeks balance across goods, services and investments and also within each pillar.

RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of ASEAN and six FTA partners.