President Rodrigo Duterte has urged India to “conclude” the proposed free trade deal with other Asia Pacific countries “in order to narrow the development gap.”Duterte made the call during the 16th summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and India in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday, his spokesman Salvador Panelo said. “The President took special mention of poverty alleviation and inequality reduction as shared goals of Aseab and India, and urged India to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in order to narrow development gap,” Panelo said in a statement. This came after India raised issues amid concerns that the free trade agreement might lead to Chinese products flooding their country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India attended the meeting with the 10 Asean leaders ahead of the RCEP summit on Monday. The trade agreement will be between the ten Asean member-states and its six free trade agreement partners—Australia, People’s Republic of China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand.

Source: Manila Times November 04, 2019 03:23 UTC