Despite a major push from China and Singapore, plans to finalise the contours of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) were pushed to next year after several nations, including India, Australia and Indonesia, expressed reservations during the East Asia Summit in Singapore on Wednesday.
India, Australia and Indonesia go to polls next year, and worry that the proposed FTA - between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and six Asia-Pacific states, including China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand - would impact their domestic industry adversely.
India also believes that such an FTA must include the free flow of services, and not just goods.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US Vice President Michael Pence on the sidelines of the summit, where they discussed various bilateral issues, including terror. In an obvious reference to Pakistan, Modi told Pence that all traces and leads in global terror attacks ultimately lead to a “single source and single place of origin.”
“The mainstreaming of people involved in the Mumbai attacks (like 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed) in Pakistan following the recent elections in that county should be a matter of serious concern to the international community,” the PM added.
Apart from terror, the leaders discussed closer cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, and ways to ramp up bilateral relations. “Prime Minister in particular stressed that there was a great opportunity for United States in India in making defence equipment and setting up defence industry in India,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
Pak origin of global terror, Modi tells US
All leads in global terror attacks can be traced back to a “single source and single place of origin”, PM Modi told US Vice President Michael Pence, in an obvious reference to Pakistan