RCEP talks: Chief negotiators to meet in China next month

Chief negotiators of 16 countries, including India and Australia, will meet next month in China to iron out issues related with the proposed mega trade deal - the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
This meeting is crucial as the members have now agreed for a single tier system of tariff relaxation from the earlier three-tier system, sources said.
"The meeting will start from October 13 in Beijing. This will be the 15th round of negotiations," they added.
The RCEP is a mega trade deal which aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

The one-week long meeting is also likely to deliberate on issues related to services and investments.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently stated that the deadline of concluding the talks by December this year would be missed.
Talks for the pact started in Phnom Penh in November 2012. The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the world's economy, estimated to be more than USD 75 trillion.
The 16-member bloc RCEP 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.