Consider the following statements about the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) : 1. It is a comprehensive free trade agreement between the ASEAN member States and ASEAN's free trade agreement partners. 2. India opted out of RCEP. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a comprehensive free trade agreement established to broaden and deepen economic engagement between the ten ASEAN member states and their existing free trade agreement partners [1]. These partners originally included China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India [1]. Negotiations were formally launched in 2012 to build upon existing ASEAN+1 FTAs [2]. However, in November 2019, India opted out of the agreement, citing significant unresolved issues and concerns regarding its domestic industry, particularly the risk of a surge in cheap imports from China. Consequently, the final RCEP agreement was signed in November 2020 by 15 countries, excluding India [2]. Therefore, both statements are correct: RCEP is an FTA between ASEAN and its partners, and India chose to withdraw from the final deal.

Sources

1. [1] Indian Economy, Vivek Singh (7th ed. 2023-24) > Chapter 13: International Organizations > Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) > p. 394
2. [2] https://www.mti.gov.sg/trade-international-economic-relations/agreements/free-trade-agreements-fta/rcep/