India to host key RCEP meeting at Hyderabad in July

NEW DELHI: India in July would host the negotiations for mega trade deal RCEP which aims at liberalising norms for trade in goods and services and boost investment among 16-member countries.

As the talks for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) requires a big convention centre, Hyderabad is the best place to hold the talks, an official said.

The Hyderabad International Convention Centre can hold a 6,000-delegate plenary and can be portioned into six smaller halls.

It also has 37 breakout rooms including specialised meeting rooms.

Lack of a large convention centre in the national capital had forced the government to host the negotiations at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida near here in December 2014.

Senior officials of the 16-member bloc RCEP participates in the deliberations.

The members comprises 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners -- India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Currently the member countries are discussing upon the single-tier system of duty relaxation under the proposed pact.

Under this system, the members have to finalise the maximum number of goods on which duties will either be eliminated or reduced significantly.

The agreement aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

The talks for the pact started in Phnom Penh in November 2012. The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the world's economy, estimated to be more than USD 75 trillion.

According to experts, the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) industry hold huge potential in terms of revenue earnings. The global market size is estimated at about USD 280 billion.

With an to tap this potential, the government last year approved the project master plan for a proposed Rs 26,000 crore international exhibition-cum-convention centre (IECC) in the national capital.

The state-of-the-art facility which, when completed, will be one of the biggest in Asia. It is proposed to be set up in Dwarka, south-west Delhi. The government is also approved construction of world-class convention centre at ITPO.