'Doors are still open', New Zealand urges India to join RCEP back!

Ahmedabad, November 08: "Doors are still open for India if it decides to join the RCEP", noted New Zealand's Damien O'Connor on Friday while addressing the forum, further adding that many more countries want to see India become part of the free trade group. "Yes, we are disappointed. But the doors are left open for the issues, which India has, to be worked through," NZ's Trade Minister said yesterday.

 

 

 

This is week later after India at the Leaders Summit in Bangkok, announced exit from the RCEP agreement which was being worked out by sixteen countries including New Zealand. O'Connor also claimed that New Zealand's dairy industry does not pose any threat to India's dairy sector.

"This afternoon I visited India's biggest dairy company Amul. We talked about how we can work together to increase production and improve farmer livelihoods here in India," O'Connor tweeted after visiting the facility with GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi.

 

Proposed opening up of the dairy sector to New Zealand under the RCEP was one of the key reservations of India. "The total quantity of products that we would be exporting here will be very small. All our exports mainly go to China, Europe and the US. The amount of products coming to India will be very very small", he added.

 

"We had discussed this issue with Amul as well as the Indian government," said the minister, who is on his maiden visit to India. AmulFed Dairy, located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city, is part of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which sells 'Amul' brand of dairy products.