RCEP - politics, geo politics and trade
India has reportedly decided not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The decision, as per the External affairs ministry’s secretary (East), Vijay Singh Thakur, reflects both the government’s assessment of current global situation and of the fairness and balance of the agreement. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ( Brunei , Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand , Vietnam ) and its FTA partners ( China , Japan , South Korea , Australia and New Zealand ). The process of forming RCEP was initiated in the August 2011 ASEAN meeting. The formal negotiations were launched in 44th ASEAN summit in August 2012. Since then 27 rounds of negotiations between officials and three summits of the leaders of the proposed participants have taken place. In December...