ANI
09 Nov 2019, 19:55 GMT+10
New Delhi [India], Nov 9 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) working president JP Nadda on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has undone the damage started by the Congress-led UPA government.
"He (Modi) has undone the damage started by the Congress-led UPA government which first explored a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China in 2007 and then joined the RCEP negotiations with fifteen countries including China in 2011-12," Nadda said in a statement.
He said under the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has ensured that the country's interests are not compromised.
"Congress had hurriedly finalised very weak FTAs with ASEAN and South Korea in 2010 and Malaysia and Japan in 2011 opening Indian markets to imports with very little benefits in return," Nadda said.
The BJP working president said that during the UPA government between 2004 and 2014, India's trade deficit with these countries increased 11 fold from $7 billion in 2004 to $78 billion in 2014.
"The Indian negotiators did not accept a bad deal on any issue and ensured that the concerns of India, particularly over the trade deficit and better market opportunities for Indian goods were put forth very strongly. Since several issues remained unresolved until today, Modi decided India will not join RCEP," he said.
Nadda said that the decision was taken by the Prime Minister to protect the interest of India's MSMEs, dairy, farmers, pharmaceutical, steel, chemical and other manufacturing sectors against unfair imports.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has upheld Mahatma Gandhi's principles and not accepted a deal which did not safeguard the interests of the poor. He is recognized the world over as a 'tough negotiator' and he has once again demonstrated his resolve to protect the interest of the people of India at all times," Nadda added.
India had backed out from RCEP, upholding that the country remains committed to a comprehensive and balanced outcome of negotiations and seeks balance across goods, services and investments and also within each pillar.
RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of ASEAN and six FTA partners. (ANI)
Get a daily dose of Asia Pacific Star news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Asia Pacific Star.
More InformationWashington [US], January 20 (ANI): Ahead of becoming the first female, Black and Asian Vice President of the United States, ...
Ethiopia has long been considered one of Africa's economic wunderkinds. Until recently, it had relative political stability in comparison to ...
On Jan. 5, PBS Kids announced it was going to stop airing Caillou, a children's show whose run on TV ...
By Ajit K DubeyNew Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI): Amid tensions on the border with China, the Indian Air Force ...
New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI/PRNewswire): HarperCollins Publishers India is thrilled to announce a new and definitive biography of Kamala ...
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is making history as the first African American woman and first South Asian American woman to ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stock markets in Asia generally advanced on Wednesday, confident the incoming Biden administration will take positive ...
U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, the last day of Donald Trump's presidency.It was a fitting farewell as numerous records were ...
DUBLIN, Ireland - Five additional Irish ports for UK registered Northern Ireland vessel landings have been designated for both IUU ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia were hot on Tuesday, although mainland China was running against the trend.In Hong ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - The Australian metropolitan commercial radio audience grew by 2% to nearly 11.1 million listeners in 2020, ...
NEW YORK, New York - According to futures trading, U.S. stocks are likely to sink further when they re-open on ...