If India has to emerge as a global superpower, a $5 trillion economy, it has to take the leadership position to ink such partnerships in the near future.
The delay in firming up the RCEP during the three-day ASEAN summit in Bangkok had been attributed to India's demands on market access and tariff-related issues.
Earlier, the Gandhi scion had asserted that Make in India had become Buy from China, claiming the proposed free trade deal will flood the country with cheap goods, resulting in millions of job losses and crippling the economy.
The proposed free-trade agreement includes 10 member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and six of the bloc’s dialogue partners — China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
