BEIJING -- Economic and trade ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners reiterated on August 5 to progress negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) so as to reach a high-quality agreement as early as possible.
Insiders anticipated that it is very likely to reach the RCEP accord by the end of 2016.
Economic and trade ministers attended the fourth RCEP ministerial meeting in the Lao capital on August 5. Moreover, trade negotiators from 16 RCEP countries are set to meet again in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City from August 15 to 19.
RCEP could potentially transform the region into one of the world's largest free trade areas that comprises over 3 billion people in the 10 ASEAN countries as well as 6 countries including Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand.
Statistics showed that the population of RCEP member countries accounts for about 50 percent of the global population, with GDP, trade volume and foreign investment approaching one third of the total volume in the world.
In March, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called for efforts to bring negotiations for the RCEP to a close this year during the opening of the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).
Ni Yueju, a researcher with the Institute of World Economy and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), noted that 10 ASEAN countries have signed 5 free trade agreements (FTA) with the above 6 countries (with Australia and New Zealand signing one agreement with ASEAN countries). Hence, reaching RCEP accord only needs the integration of the current agreements and the FTAs inked between other member countries.
Zhang Rui, council member of the China Marketing Association, said that as the most important supporter of the RCEP, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has been established at the end of 2015, indicating that ASEAN countries tend to reach unanimity in formulating investment rules, product quality standards and etc.
However, the negotiation task is still arduous. "Though the FTAs signed between RCEP member countries have taken up nearly 70 percent of all the FTAs in Asia, there are still many vacuum to be filled. The FTAs between Japan and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as China and India, have not reached yet. It will be difficult to achieve consensus in the short term," added Zhang Rui.
The RCEP accord will help China expand foreign trade relations, said experts.
Zhang held that reaching the RCEP agreement will boost trade and investment between China and member countries and inject momentum into the Belt and Road Initiative.
Ni Yueju added that except for facilitating trade and investment, the RCEP agreement will also provide new driving force for the development of Asian economy.
(By Zhang Yuan, zhangyuan11@xinhua.org)
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