RCEP includes 10 Southeast Asian economies along with China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia, with members accounting for around 30 per cent of global GDP.
After years of negotiations, India had pulled out of the China-backed mega RCEP over unresolved 'core concerns'
The former Finance Minister's remarks come days after India decided not to join the mega Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade deal as negotiations failed to address New Delhi's concerns.
Despite his bonhomie with Beijing, Mr Narendra Modi said as much after refusing to put ink to paper, expressing dissatisfaction over the lack of openings that Indian services and producers would find after the deal, while conceding that India believes in “a mutually beneficial RCEP”.
China is backing the RCEP as a way to assert its trade dominance in its Asian backyard after Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017.
India is of the view that negotiations on services for the free trade agreement by the 16-member Regional Comprehensive Economic…
