Industry Consultation on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership on Aug 29 at Ludhiana

Ludhiana, August 22, 2014: The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is intended to be a free trade agreement(FTA) between the 10 countries of ASEAN namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam and the six countries with which ASEAN has existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) – Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand.
A successfully concluded RCEP will allow the expansion of trade and investment between participating countries, and support India’s greater economic integration with the region. The participants in the RCEP FTA negotiations have a total population of over 3 billion people and a trade share estimated at around 27 per cent of global trade (based on 2012 WTO figures), covering GDP of around $US21 trillion (2013 IMF figures). While end-2015 has been set as the target date for concluding the RCEP negotiations, the next round of negotiations is scheduled for coming month.
In view of the above, an Industry consultation on above subject to assert suggestions for the stake holders is being organised by FIEO jointly with Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India as per the schedule given above. The Commerce Ministry feels that it is important to have an interaction between the Government/negotiators & industry on various aspects of the FTA and to assess the opportunities and challenges that exist for India once implemented, which will be significant implications for Indian business.
The Ludhiana(Punjab) programme is intended to be a specific sectoral meeting covering the sectors of Engineering (all branches of engineering) & Textile (all branches of textile) in which Indian businesses  would like to have market access in other RCEP-member countries.
Senior officials from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GoI and experts on the subject will address and interact with the participants.