The term ‘Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership’ often appears in the news in the context of the affairs of a group of countries known as

RCEP is a proposed mega free trade agreement among the ASEAN members (10 countries) together with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. ASEAN is the hub around which it is built, which is why the term keeps appearing in ASEAN-related news. So the answer is B.

• G20 is a forum of major economies for discussing global economic governance. It is not a trade bloc, and RCEP is not its agreement.
• SCO is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a political and security grouping of Eurasian states such as China, Russia, Central Asian countries, India and Pakistan. It is not a trade pact.
• SAARC is the South Asian grouping whose trade arrangement is SAFTA, not RCEP. India, a SAARC member, opted out of RCEP in November 2019.

Core concept: regional trade blocs and ASEAN centrality. For Mains, link this to India's Act East Policy, the trade deficit with China, and the debate over opening markets to cheap imports.

Fact update: RCEP was signed in November 2020 and entered into force in January 2022 for its initial ratifying members.

Trap: Aspirants pick SAARC or SCO because India is a member of both, forgetting that the question asks which group the trade pact belongs to.