Segments of industry want govt to move forward on RCEP: Gopal Agarwal

BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishan Agarwal on Wednesday said it will be wrong to say that everybody is opposed to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), adding that India cannot be a closed economy.

Asserting that industry concerns about RCEP, a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 ASEAN member states and their six FTA partners, will be taken care by the government, Agarwal said the party had recently organised a meeting of stakeholders on the issue and their views have been conveyed to the government.

The round table was attended by various academicians, industry representatives, activists and others. BJP's general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh was also present in the meeting.

"Trade negotiations are give and take...besides economic considerations, political and strategic considerations are important in any trade relations so they are also important in RCEP," Agarwal told PTI.

Underlying that the entire industry is not opposed to the RCEP, he said there are segments of the industry that want the government to move forward on this trade agreement.

"It is wrong to say the everybody is opposing RCEP...India cannot be a closed economy. We cannot ignore the whole trade block. We know that there are genuine concerns of the industry and in negotiations they will be definitely taken care,"Agarwal said.

The RCEP bloc comprises 10 Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) group 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.

Member countries are looking to conclude the talks by the end of this year, but many issues, including the number of products over which duties will be eliminated, are yet to be finalised.

India already has a free trade pact with the ASEAN, Japan and South Korea. It is also negotiating a similar agreement with Australia and New Zealand.