CII appreciates Govt stance on RCEP agreement

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) appreciated the government's stance to opt-out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, and vowed to continue working to integrate India's economy with that of the world.

In a statement, CCI president Vikram Kirloskar said the long-term interest of India's industries lies in getting integrated with global values chains and urged all 15 countries onboard the RCEP to work with India to resolve India's "very legitimate concerns".

"CII appreciates Government of India's stance on addressing all outstanding issues before joining RCEP. CII welcomes the RCEP leaders' joint statement acknowledging India's very legitimate concerns and we urge all countries to work with India to resolve them," the statement read.

It said, "We sincerely hope that these issues will be resolved soon to the mutual satisfaction of all RCEP countries. CII will continue to support and work with the Government of India in its endeavour to integrate with the global economy through mutually beneficial trade agreements."

"The long term interest of industry in India is to get well integrated in global value chains and beneficial trade agreements could play important roles in realizing this interest", Kirloskar said in the statement.

India announced not to join China-backed RCEP as its key concerns including inadequate protection against import surge, insufficient differential with China, and no credible assurances on market access and non-tariff barriers could not be resolved.