RCEP Track 1.5 Dialogue in India: Global and Regional Trade and Economic Integration Issues

Hosted by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and INdustry’s Centre for Research on International Trade (CRIT) with support from the Asian Bureau of Economic Research (ABER), this roundtable aimed to ascertain how best to assist RCEP negotiators in overcoming the remaining obstacles to India joining its regional partners in signing the RCEP agreement. In this spirit, the visiting experts sought to gain an informed perspective of Indian industry and business’ views on RCEP, including any reservations about the RCEP initiative, while also sharing the perspectives and expertise of other participant countries whose experience with multilateral free trade agreements was deeper and more robust.
The importance of RCEP economic cooperation has been greatly elevated due in large part to the threats posed by rising protectionism and spiking global uncertainty about the international rules-based trading system and their effects on economic growth and security. Given the region’s massive contribution to global trade and sustained economic growth, finalising RCEP is a step towards mitigating global economic uncertainty. See the Centre for Regional Trade’s event agenda here.