RCEP was very unfair and unbalanced agreement, says Goyal
India has recognized that multilateral engagements often lead to economic partnerships which may not be in the best interests of all the stakeholders, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
He also cited the example of India walking out of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) because it was a very unfair and an unbalanced agreement.
Speaking at the 27th edition of Wharton India Economic Forum via Video Conference on 7 Jan 2023, Goyal assured that India’s interest is to enter into bilateral free trade agreements that are balanced, in the best interests of both countries.
“We are engaging with like-minded countries particularly those with a rules-based order, transparent economic systems and we are entering into agreements which are a ‘win-win’ for both sides.”
He pointed out that India has been focused on building enabling infrastructure and environment to attract investors who believe in a robust, rules based system.
Focus is on structural reforms, massive infrastructure development, digitization and the huge talent that India is offering to the world, which is helping rewrite India’s future, the Minister underlined.
One of the biggest challenges is going to be changing the mindset of the nation to recognize and value the importance of quality over the next 25 years, according to Goyal. He termed this as the defining factor for the future of India.
The Government will continue to support manufacturing to create jobs for a large number of people, focusing on digitization, making India a knowledge-based economy, he elaborated.
He mentioned that India did over 74 billion financial transactions digitally, which is more than Europe, the US and China combined.
“The challenge is to get the mindset of the nation to work towards being a high quality, high technology, high service oriented, which can meet the needs of the rest of the world.” fiinews.com
