India opting out of RCEP is not an act of courage but cowardice

I was disappointed when India decided to opt out of the RCEP. We had all the time in the world to negotiate and get a good deal for ourselves

I travelled for one such meeting (summit with ASEAN) to Cambodia in the PM’s special plane (the year was 2003). During the flight Vajpayee asked me whether I had seen the speech which had been prepared for him. The PMO used to prepare his speeches based on inputs received from various ministries, specially the ministries of commerce and external affairs. The final version was not shown, even to me, and was a trade secret of the PMO. So, I frankly told Vajpayee that I had not seen the final draft.”

“He immediately told his officials to show it to me.