Goyal holds two-day consultations with stakeholders on RCEP

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has held detailed consultations with sector-specific players on proposed mega free-trade agreement RCEP.

The minister met representatives from various sectors including investment, services, steel and allied products, copper, aluminium, zinc and other base metals, engineering, electronics, automotives, agriculture, animal husbandry, marine, dairy and processed food industries.

"We had an extensive and holistic discussion on opportunities and concerns relating to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)," Goyal said in a tweet.

The agreement is being negotiated among 16 countries. It comprises 10 Asean group members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

 

These meetings assume significance as trade minister of these 16 countries would be meeting in China next month on the proposed agreement.

The 27th round of meeting at chief negotiators level is also happening in China later this month.

Base metal and steel sector have raised reservations over proposed import duty cuts under the RCEP agreement. Certain steel sector players have already demanded removal of the segment from the purview of existing free-trade agreements with Japan and South Korea. They have claimed that the pact has not benefitted them.

India has registered trade deficit in 2018-19 with as many as 11 RCEP member countries, including China, South Korea and Australia, out of the grouping of 16 nations that are negotiating a mega trade pact since November 2012.

RCEP negotiations, which started in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh in November 2012, aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

Under a free-trade agreement like RCEP, member countries significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on maximum number of goods traded among them. They also liberalise norms to promote trade in services and boosting investments.