Is It Finally Time for India's Free Trade Agreements? The ASEAN "Present" and the RCEP "Future"

Debashis CHAKRABORTY, Julien CHAISSE, Xu QIAN
2019 Asian Journal of International Law  
AbstractSince the inception of the WTO in 1995, India enthusiastically explored export-promotion strategies through multilateral trade reforms. However, the country has moved towards the regional trade route since 2004, primarily owing to the slow progress of the Doha Round negotiations. As a result, the whole architecture of international trade law and governance is being redesigned in the Asia Pacific region. This paper focuses on the pivotal role played by India in this rebalancing. Given
more » ... stress on services exports and investment requirements, India focused on entering into comprehensive agreements encompassing merchandise and services trade as well as investment provisions. Presently, India is involved in the ongoing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership [RCEP] negotiations, where ASEAN remains at the core. The current analysis evaluates the Indo-ASEAN trade patterns and evolving dynamics over the last decade through select trade indices, and comments on the future of the RCEP.
doi:10.1017/s2044251319000043 fatcat:nwrvu4vapzg7dg2nk2cyx7lase