♤ In 2017 the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken a strong stand that the country should restrain itself from concluding any such pact from which it would not gain in the medium term.

♤ Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar’s comments before Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce in June 2017, called for observance of due restraint and not conclude trade arrangements which are not to our medium term advantage.” The panel’s report is on ‘trade with Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)’ was released on December 18 2017. According to the report, the senior official “submitted that a lot of our [India’s free trade] agreements have not served as well as they could have.”

♤ Referring to the RCEP before the standing committee, Mr. Jaishankar had said that “though larger FTAs are important for getting preferential access to the markets, it is important to be cautious about the manner in which such arrangements work out in respect of our imports as well as on our efforts to increase the share of manufacturing sector in our economy.”

♤ Mr. Jaishankar stressed that India’s external trade arrangements must be supportive of the Make in India initiative. As per the committee’s report, he pointed out that “emphasis in these trade arrangements is mostly on trade in goods and the same enthusiasm is not shared for trade in services. The reluctance in giving market access for trade in services is a big challenge.”

♤ The official added that such a strong stand would also be adopted in other negotiations including those on the proposed India-European Union Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement.

♤ At the ASEAN-India commemorative summit held on January 25 2018, the issue of the long-delayed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was taken up and India has maintained commitment to take the process forward.