Japan still hopes India will re-join RCEP: Japan Cabinet official Noriyuki Shikata

Japan has still not given up hope that India might reconsider joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that it quit in 2019, a senior Japanese official said, indicating that India-Japan collaborations in other countries may be impacted if India continues to stay out. “RCEP will benefit the Indian economy with a better supply chain, especially with ASEAN countries,” Japan’s Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs Noriyuki Shikata said in an interaction with journalists during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. “India will be treated exceptionally as a founder member and if India is willing to negotiate its re-entry to RCEP, Japan would be happy to take a lead on that,” Mr. Shikata said, acknowledging, however, that the Modi government has not shown any interest in the process. If, for example, Japanese and Indian companies invest in Thailand or Vietnam and create a supply chain and the final product is exported to China, they could make use of RCEP provisions and put more conditions or tariffs on it,” Mr. Shikata said, explaining that the India-Japan collaborations could then be restricted to projects in India’s neighbourhood, like with Bangladesh. In a turnaround from 2019, when Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had vowed that India would sign no Free Trade Agreements “in a hurry or to the disadvantage of Indian industry and exporters”, the Modi government has set several FTA negotiations on a fast track in the past few months, finalising an agreement with the U.A.E., and speeding up talks with Australia, Canada and the U.K.