InfoQuest (August 1, 2019) -- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Mr. Jurin Laksanawisit will lead a delegation to attend the Eighth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial Meeting to be held in Beijing China, from August 1 to 3, 2019. This is the first time that he led a delegation to attend an international conference since he assumed the position of the Minister of Commerce of Thailand.
Thailand will take the presidency of this RCEP ministerial meeting in its capacity as ASEAN's rotating president. This meeting is very important, as it seeks to bring about a consensus on a series of negotiation differences so as to complete the negotiations within this year.
Pushing RCEP negotiations to reach a final conclusion within this year is a matter of great concern to ASEAN leaders, and is also one of the 13 economic issues in the plan announced by ASEAN for this year. As expected, the latest progress in RCEP negotiations, the policy solutions to current issues and other important topics will be the focus, especially the developments at the 27th round of RCEP talks held in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan province, between July 22 and 31, 2019. As a meeting of senior economic officials, it will accelerate the opening of markets in the tree major fields of goods, services and investment, and facilitate progress in negotiations on intellectual property rights, the preparation of finance by-laws and other aspects, if consensuses can be reached.
Mr. Jurin said that following this meeting, the RCEP member countries will hold another meeting of senior economic officials in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in October and two ministerial meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, in September and October. In the future, RCEP member countries will hold meetings on a more frequent basis, because all member country are working together towards a solution with sufficient flexibility so as to achieve the goal of concluding negotiations within this year.
Against the global background of the U.S.-China trade war, a RCEP agreement is conducive to strengthening the trade engagement between the 16 member countries and building confidence for both ASEAN and RCEP. If such an agreement is successfully negotiated, RCEP will become the largest free trade area in the world. That's because the 16 RCEP member countries have a combined population of more than 3.56 billion, accounting for nearly half of the world's total, and a combined trade volume of more than 11.4 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 30 percent of the world's total.
In 2018, the trade volume between Thailand and RCEP member countries totaled about 290 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 58.7 percent of Thailand's total, up 12.6 percent from 2017. Among all RCEP member countries, ASEAN countries, China, Japan and Australia are Thailand's largest importers, and automobiles, equipment and components, plastic particles, refined oil, computers, chemicals, rubber products, rubber, machinery and steel are its main exports.
Source: InfoQuest, by Nisarat Wichiensri/Rachada, translated by Xinhua Silk Road
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