Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) UPSC

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

What is Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ?

It is a trade deal that is currently under negotiation among 16 countries.

Who are members of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ?

These countries include 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 6 

countries with which the ASEAN bloc has free trade agreements (FTA).

The ASEAN countries have FTAs with India, Australia, China, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand.

Negotiations on the details of the RCEP have been on since 2013.

India has decided not to join RCEP.

Why Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ?

RCEP is viewed as an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed trade agreement which includes several Asian and American nations but excludes China and India.

RCEP will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical co-operation, intellectual property, competition, dispute 

settlement and other issues.

Negotiations of RCEP will aim to achieve the high level of tariff liberalisation, through building upon the existing liberalisation levels between  participating countries.

Note:-

It takes into account the East Asia Free Trade Agreement (EAFTA) and the Comprehensive 

Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) initiatives, with the difference that the RCEP is not working on a pre-determined membership. 

Instead, it is based on open accession which enables participation of any of the ASEAN FTA partners (China, Korea, Japan, India and Australia-New Zealand).