New Delhi, Aug 5 (KNN) India has told China that the proposed mega free trade agreement RCEP should address the causes of high trade imbalances among the member countries, the commerce ministry said.

The matter was among the issues raised by Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan in his meeting with Wang Shouwen, the Vice Minister of China's Commerce Ministry, on the sidelines of RCEP inter-sessional ministerial meeting in Beijing.

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan led a delegation to the 8th RCEP Inter-sessional Ministerial meeting held in Beijing on 2-3 August 2019.

During the meeting he highlighted India’s contribution in shaping the RCEP negotiations till date.  He advocated a spirit of understanding accommodation and flexibility towards reaching balanced outcome in the negotiations. India’s concerns regarding market access and other issues leading to imbalanced trade between some of the partner countries was specifically flagged during the meetings.

On the side-lines of the Ministerial meeting, the Commerce Secretary held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from China, Thailand, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and ASEAN Economic Ministers.

In his meeting Secretary emphasized the importance of an RCEP agreement that would duly address the causes of existing trade imbalances.

He used this opportunity to flag bilateral market access related issues on various categories of products in which discussions are ongoing between India and China. He also emphasized the importance of easing the business visas regime of China for Indian business travellers.

During the meeting with ASEAN Economic Ministers, the Commerce Secretary highlighted the importance of services trade which supports both goods trade and investment.

He also met Simon Birmingham, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment of Australia wherein both sides appreciated the progress made under RCEP and the need to move forward on each other’s requests including service sector related requests of India.

He requested that greater market access for Indian goods and services from Enggartiasto Lukita, Trade Minister of Indonesia.