New Delhi/Hanoi, Nov 15 (UNI) Making a special arrangement to facilitate India's return to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, 15 Asia-Pacific countries on Sunday inked a mega deal to create the world's biggest trade bloc, wrapping up eight years of negotiation.
They exempted India from a rule barring new entrants to the framework for 18 months, following the pact's entry into force.
India was involved in all negotiations till November last year, but pulled out saying that it will no longer take part in talks, amid concerns that its trade deficit with China would grow.
The free trade deal would take effect after ratification by six states of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and three of the other five countries- Japan, South Korea, Australia. New Zealand and China.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hoped that India would be able to join the RCEP in future, so that the agreement "fully reflects the emerging patterns of integration and regional cooperation in Asia".
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who chaired the ASEAN leaders' summit, promised to "always keep the door open for India" and "facilitate their participation as best as we can."
The RCEP agreement aims at cutting tariffs and establishing common rules in areas, such as e-commerce and intellectual property, during a virtual leaders' summit.
'We believe that RCEP, being the world's largest free trade arrangement, represents an important step forward towards an ideal framework of global trade and investment rules,' the leaders said in a joint statement, issued after a virtual meeting.
The deal 'is critical for our region's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and will play an important role in building the region's resilience through an inclusive and sustainable post-pandemic economic recovery process,' they said.
The deal would eliminate tariffs on 91 per cent of goods.
After signing of the agreement, Japan Trade Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said the 15 countries were seeking to wrap up domestic procedures and put the pact into effect 'as quickly as possible'.
Negotiations for RCEP began in 2012, with China pushing it as an alternative to the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Donald Trump later pulled out of TPP talks, and a revised deal was signed among the remaining 11 countries, including Japan.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiuddin Yassin said Kuala Lumpur respects India's decision of not joining the RCEP, but remains hopeful that the ASEAN Dialogue Partner would join the trade pact in the future.
In his intervention at the 17th ASEAN-India Summit on Thursday, he expressed his appreciation for India's active participation and valuable contributions in the RCEP negotiations and forming the RCEP Agreement.
Mohamed Azmin Ali, International Trade Minister, said Malaysia, as well as the ASEAN member states and dialogue partners, would continue to engage with India, as the republic was a very important trading partner not only to Malaysia, but also to ASEAN.
Japan is said to have reached out to India. At last month's ministerial meeting, Trade Minister Kajiyama said the inclusion of India would be important, even after the signing of the deal.
UNI SRJ RJ 1724