The doors of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are open to New Delhi, according to Wang Shouwen, China's vice trade minister. The B20 summit is currently underway in New Delhi, and he was speaking during a session on trade ministers hosted by Piyush Goyal, minister of commerce and industry.
China-India trade relationship is growing very fast. Last year our bilateral trade reached $130 billion. If there had been an FTA agreement between China and India, either bilateral or in RCEP context, the trade potential between the countries would be much further tapped,” Shouwen said.
“So, it is your decision to decide when you are joining RCEP but doors of RCEP will always be open to India,” he said.
India refused to attend the RCEP summit in Bangkok scheduled for November 2019. Goyal posed the question, "Do you regret that we chose not to join RCEP," before elaborating on India's decision. India decided against joining RCEP because to the fact that the trade imbalance between India and China would have been exacerbated if India had participated. “The Indian industry feels that if we had entered into this agreement with the RCEP, this trade would have certainly increased but it would only have increased the trade deficit further,” Goyal said.
According to Kemi Badenoch, secretary of state for trade and business in the United Kingdom, talks between India and Britain on a prospective free trade agreement (FTA) are in their last stages.
“India is a perfect example of what the world is going to be looking like in the future and we need to make sure that our economy and our country is adapting to that in a way that works for the UK. We're currently negotiating a free trade agreement, which minister Goyal has promised me is going to be the most ambitious free trade agreement,” Badenoch said.
Australia's trade minister, Tim Ayres, praised India for its "absolutely fantastic" hosting of the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers conference and its "terrific" leadership in narrowing the topic of the G20 conversation as we head into the difficult WTO negotiations.
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