PM Modi Opts Out of RCEP
At the ASEAN summit in Bangkok, PM Modi announced that India will not be a part of the RCEP.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a trade agreement between 16 member countries. The RCEP is an agreement that helps to improve business between the member countries so that all countries benefit and develop. Discussions about the RCEP agreement had started in 2012. Countries such as India, China, South Korea, Australia, etc were all discussing to be a part of this agreement. The main point about this agreement was the remove or reduce import duty on 90% of the items.
According to the partnership, India would allow to zero import duty on items imported from China. Increase trade, easy visa rules for work visa, increase in investment opportunities, etc. were all included in the agreement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is attending the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok. ASEAN is an association of Southeast Asian countries. These are the member countries. ASEAN countries are also thinking of being a part of the RCEP.
At the ASEAN Summit, all the countries were going to decide about the RCEP. At the summit, PM Modi said that he has studied the RCEP contract in detail. He said after studying the agreement he felt that it will not benefit India. Modi said that in the contract, India is giving so many benefits but the other rich countries are giving nothing to India in return.
Plus the most important point was about China. If India accepted the agreement, there will be an increase of imports of items from China and Indian businesses will suffer. It will have a bad impact on India. This is why PM Modi decided that India will not be a part of the RCEP. He said that Farmers, businessmen, professionals, will have big problems if India accepts the RCEP agreement. This has made China very angry.
