RCEP enters last phase, to be signed sans India: Indonesia

22 Aug '20

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has entered the legal scrubbing phase and is expected to be signed soon without India, according to the Indonesian trade ministry, whose deputy trade minister Jerry Sambuaga recently said the participating countries will keep the door open for India in case it decides to rejoin the deal in future.

India’s participation will be important on political, economic and Asian solidarity fronts, Sambuaga said in a statement.

The participating countries now comprise the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

India withdrew from RCEP negotiations in November last year because of concerns about its growing trade deficit with China.

India is Indonesia's fifth-largest export market. Indonesia booked $76.41 billion in exports, a decrease of 5.49 percent, in this year’s first half while imports amounted to $70.9 billion, a 14.28 per cent year-on-year decrease. It recorded a trade surplus of $5.5 billion over the first half of the year, compared to a deficit of $1.87 billion in the same period last year.

RCEP participating countries have expressed hope that the trade deal can help with their recovery from the economic slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report in an Indonesian newspaper.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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