Chinese FM calls for acceleration of RCEP talks
Hanoi, (VNA) – Chinese
Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for accelerating negotiations on the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
to create the Free Trade Area
of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).
Beijing is open to any regional trade
agreement that benefits regional economic integration and free trade, he was
quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying at a news conference after the fourth
China-Australia Strategic and Diplomatic Dialogue in Canberra on February 7.
According to Wang Yi, among regional and
subregional cooperation mechanisms in Asia-Pacific, some are making good
progress while others have lost momentum, but either the RCEP or TPP or any other regional arrangement isa possible path to the
broader FTAAP.
He urged relevant sides to speed up talks on
the RCEP to achieve the common goal of creating FTAAP.
Initiated in November 2012, RCEP talks include
the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
and its six dialogue partners – China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea,
Australia and New Zealand.
RCEP member countries are estimated to make
up 29 percent of global trade.
RCEP has gone through 16 rounds of
negotiation, with the latest round held in December 2016 in Indonesia.
The 17th round of negotiations is set to take
place in Japan in February 2017.
Within the framework of the RCEP, countries plan
to remove tariff barriers for 80 percent of goods.-VNA