By Banikinkar Pattanayak The negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving 16 countries could slow down in the coming months due to a lack of consensus over services.
Some members are unwilling to show flexibility in discussing liberalisation of the services sector, and are instead seeking more relaxation in goods, while India wants a greater commitment from them on services, as it has shown in offering to remove barriers in goods trade, sources told FE. India will likely step up its demand for a deal on services in Perth in Australia where the 12th round of RCEP negotiations are scheduled to take place from April 22.
A more secret trade agreement
We would love to bring you more, but the process is so secretive we cannot yet access the texts: is this how democracy should function?
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More details about rcep Ip available on kei website