The Economic Times (25/12/2018) - Indian officials will hold bilateral meetings with a few countries, including China and some ASEAN members, in the coming days to iron out issues hindering negotiations of RCEP mega trade deal, an official said.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a mega free trade agreement, which aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

After the bilateral meetings, the RCEP members will meet for the 25th round of negotiations in mid-February in Indonesia, the official added.

RCEP bloc 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.

The main issues that needs resolution include number of goods on which import duties should be completely eliminated and norms to relax services trade.

RCEP members want India to eliminate or significantly reduce customs duties on maximum number of goods it traded globally. India's huge domestic market provides immense opportunity of exports for the member countries.