9th RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting to be held in Thailand

The 9th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial meeting will be held in Bangkok in Thailand. India will be represented by Union Commerce Minister Piysuh Goyal. This will be the last Ministerial before 3rd Leaders Summit to be held on 4 November 2019 in Bangkok. It also comes at a crucial stage where RCEP is scheduled to be announced as concluded in November 2019.

Background

So far 21 chapters out of total 25 chapters of RCEP negotiations have been concluded. Crucial chapters of Investment, Electronic Commerce, Rules of Origin and Trade Remedies are yet to be settled. Recently, 28th round of negotiations for RCEP at the expert level was concluded at Da Nang in Vietnam in September 2019. In this round of negotiations meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee was held in which senior officials participated in negotiations regarding market access on Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Investment as well as on other areas like Rules of Origin, Intellectual Property and Electronic Commerce.

About Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

It is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between 10 member states of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its six free-trade agreement (FTA) partners- India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at 21st ASEAN Summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

10 ASEAN Members countries: Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2019