The geo-economic dynamics with a liberal political landscape has laid the foundation of a free-market trading system. The last decade has witnessed a surge in regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Africa, Latin America and Asia in the lead. The unprecedented growth has been primarily attributed to the weakening multilateral institutions like the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It is in this context that an FTA, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), covering the Indo–Pacific region, has been under negotiation for half a decade. The agreement aims to cover the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its FTA partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
This report tries to study the significance of the RCEP agreement from India’s perspective by laying greater focus on Cambodia and Vietnam from the Mekong region. Further, the report has concentrated on specific areas like Agro-processing, Regional Value Chains (RVCs), and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
To read the report, Click here: Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and India