New Delhi/Singapore, Nov 13 (UNI) Union Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu led the Indian delegation to the 7th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Inter-Sessional Ministerial Meeting in Singapore on November 12-13 and impressed upon all the trade ministers to lend political support to fast track the negotiations.
Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore Chan Chun Sing was the Chair of the meeting as Singapore is currently the Chair of ASEAN this year.
The Ministerial Meeting was held in preparation for the 2nd RCEP Leaders Summit to be held on November 14 in Singapore in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating.
'Meeting with the leaders of many countries in Singapore on the sidelines of RCEP. All leaders including our Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji will meet on Wednesday to take the process forward to create the biggest trading block in the world,' Mr Prabhu has tweeted.
The RCEP is a mega regional free trade agreement being negotiated amongst 16 countries, comprising 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) plus six ASEAN FTA partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
The Ministers took stock of the state of negotiations across the various chapters.
Chair of the Trade Negotiating Committee, Pak Iman Pambagyo, made a detailed presentation on the state of play of RCEP negotiations and sought ministerial guidance and direction on pending issues.
The Ministers acknowledged the good progress made in the negotiations so far with successful conclusion of 5 chapters this year alone, taking the total to 7 chapters -- Economic and Technical Cooperation, Small and Medium Enterprises, Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation, Government Procurement, Institutional Provisions, Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures (STRACAP) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS).
The Ministers made an assessment of the progress on ‘The Package of Year End Deliverables’.
Mr Prabhu underlined that ‘substantial progress’ has been achieved in the negotiations which should be reported to the Leaders and defended India’s interests effectively and secured maximum flexibilities.
India managed to obtain balanced outcomes in the application of the Dispute Settlement Mechanism. India showed flexibility on the principle of ‘consensus’ in the Institutional Provisions Chapter which helped in its successful conclusion during the meeting.
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