NEW DELHI

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, at their meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, are likely to have discussed an envisaged regional free trade agreement among Asian and Oceania countries.

Motegi is believed to have urged Jaishankar to change India's plan to withdraw from negotiations on concluding the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade agreement.

At the beginning of the talks, Motegi said he will discuss bilateral relations in general ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to India in mid-December at the earliest.

Motegi also said he wants to discuss ballistic missile launches by North Korea.

If realized, RCEP would create a huge trade block covering about half of the world's population and some 30 pct of global trade value and gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, India has stressed the need to finish negotiations on preventing an expansion of its trade deficit with China, which totaled some 53 billion dollars in 2018.

At an RCEP summit in Thailand in early November, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was a right decision not to join RCEP at the moment as there remained unresolved issues.

While China and other nations are inclined to conclude the RCEP negotiations without India's participation, Japan aims to reach a deal among all 16 countries.

Jiji Press