RCEP door will remain ‘open’ for India: Aus
Says deal would be bigger and better with India in it
PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi has conveyed to Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi about the importance India attaches to her country’s cooperation in ensuring that insurgent groups do not find space to operate across the IndiaMyanmar border.
MODI ALSO conveyed to Suu Kyi about India’s readiness to expand its socio-economic projects in the country’s Rakhine state, months after New Delhi implemented a housing project in the restive province.
MODI MADE the proposal during a meeting with Suu Kyi on the sidelines of the Asean summit.
Melbourne, Nov. 4: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday said the door will remain “wide open” for India to join the 16nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) if it decides to do so, as the others were on board in finalising the deal without New Delhi.
Morrison and trade minister Simon Birmingham are in Bangkok to discuss the RCEP during the Asean summit.
India has been forcefully raising the issue of market access as well as protected lists of goods mainly to shield its domestic market as there have been fears that the country may be flooded with cheap Chinese agricultural and industrial products once it signs the deal.
“The door will always be open to India,” Morrison was quoted as saying. He also said that the deal would be bigger and better with India in it.
“It has always been our view, and the view of many who sit around the table, that this is a bigger and better deal with India in it,” Morrison said.
“I think patience is the virtue in this,” he added.
Birmingham said, “We have to make sure that progress is realised amongst the 15 nations who are there without India. These make it easier for Australian businesses to do business through the region and that is what allows us to keep growing our exports.” He said the new, multilateral deal will deliver better results.
“There are real gains that Australia can get in terms of our services economy, financial services, areas of education, health sectors.
We are very focused on how we can value-add to those existing agreement,” Birmingham said.
Earlier, China on Monday said negotiations to firm up the RCEP deal during the Asean meeting in Bangkok have made “inspiring progress” though they may not fully meet the expectations of all the parties.
Asked about reports of delay in finalising the agreement among the 16 countries, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing here that “as I understand the progress made may not fully meet the expectations of all parties but we have seen inspiring progress and all parties also say they will make joint efforts for conclusion of the treaty.
“I shall say that this sent out a positive signal from the East Asian countries in support of multilateralism and free trade, and we hope all parties will continue to engage in negotiations in a constructive way and work together to achieve substantial and final results for the negotiations”. Geng said the RCEP is the largest and most important trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region.
“This FTA (Free Trade Agreement) will inject strong impetus into the regional economic integration. With the joint efforts of our members the RCEP negotiations made important progress. Now all parties are in close contact and we will hold the third leaders meeting later on,” he said.
After India opted out, the leaders of 15 RCEP countries issued a statement resolving to sign the free trade pact next year.
The RCEP negotiations were launched by Asean leaders and six other countries during the 21st Asean Summit in Phnom Penh in November 2012. The objective of launching RCEP negotiations was to achieve a modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement among the Asean member States and its FTA partners.