India did not join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement because it would have had “negative consequences”, although the country is interested in a “fair and balanced” free trade pact with the European Union (EU), Minister of Affairs Foreign S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.
New Delhi had indicated its concerns with the RCEP at the East Asia Summit a year ago because a number of key concerns had not been addressed during the lengthy negotiations for the trade deal, Jaishankar said during an online conversation on India-EU relations. organized by the Center. for European Policy Studies.
“We got a call given that the way (RCEP) is currently, that we are not interested in getting into this deal, as it would have fairly immediate negative consequences for our own economy,” he said, adding that this was not India’s position. ” generic about trade ”.
The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea signed the RCEP on Sunday. Japan led the drafting of a ministerial statement that left the door open for India to join the world’s largest trading bloc, which covers nearly a third of the world economy, at a later stage.
Referring to a long overdue proposal for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU, Jaishankar said the Indian government had spoken of the need to resume negotiations on it. India, he added, wants a “fair and balanced FTA” with the EU.
“I recognize that an FTA with Europe is not an easy negotiation. In the world, it must be the most difficult negotiation because it is a very high-level FTA ”, he said. He noted that the two sides were discussing various proposals, including a separate investment agreement or an “early harvest” agreement.
Jaishankar also highlighted the importance that India attaches to mobility agreements with European states in facilitating the movement of qualified professionals. There are about 34 million people of Indian origin worldwide, including nearly nine million in Western Asia, he noted.
India wants to ensure that mobility or migration is legal to avoid exploitation of workers, and mobility agreements allow countries to “make the rules of the game” and root out “bad practices,” he said.
Jaishankar also spoke of the urgent need to reform the UN, saying: “It is common sense – after all, in our life, what is it that is 75 years old that you are still wearing? Everything requires some kind of refreshment (and) updating and we cannot allow the interests of one or two countries to continue that want to freeze a moment in history so that their perpetual gain continues ”.
He added: “The more we let this stalemate, this stagnation continue, frankly, it is hurting the UN. I don’t think the UN will come out of this well. ”
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