Sri Lanka, Bangladesh in queue to join RCEP: Singapore foreign minister

New Delhi: Singapore foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan has said India‘s neighbours Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, along with Hong Kong, are in queue to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

“We wanted India to be part of it (RCEP). In the end, India could not, because India was anxious. Its main anxiety was the very asymmetrical trade balance with China because they do not have a free trade agreement with China, but also what impact it would have on its own economy. So anyway, India pulled out,” Balakrishnan told the Financial Times in a recent wide-ranging interview, during which he also discussed how Singapore is navigating the tariff war between the US and China and impact of US tariffs on Singapore. “What was meant to be 16 became 15. Ten, plus five, and we got the RCEP over the finish line and it is coming to effect.” …| read more on The Economic Times