AJC recommends five policy measures to help ASEAN maximise benefits from RCEP

The ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) has released a paper on “ASEAN Global Value Chain and Its Relationship with RCEP: Impacts of RCEP on ASEAN Integration”, in which it recommends ASEAN to carry out five policy measures to benefit the most from RCEP.
Tokyo (VNA) – The ASEAN-Japan Centre(AJC) has released a paper on “ASEAN Global Value Chain and Its Relationshipwith RCEP: Impacts of RCEP on ASEAN Integration”, in which it recommends ASEANto carry out five policy measures to benefit the most from RCEP.

The paper examines and compares global value chain(GVC) patterns of ASEAN with those of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive EconomicPartnership) to identify RCEP-related opportunities and costs to ASEAN.

The study reveals that the role of ASEAN in RCEPGVCs is smaller than that in ASEAN GVCs and that ASEAN connectivity throughproduction is therefore also smaller partly because RCEP is less integratedthan ASEAN. While ASEAN produces many products, they do not necessarily becomeinputs to exports of non-ASEAN RCEP members’ exports.

On a per industry basis, the study shows that while the automotive andelectronic GVCs are strong in ASEAN, they are much stronger in RCEP because ofthe participation of China, Japan, and South Korea. Therefore, there areopportunities for ASEAN GVCs in these industries to expand into non-ASEAN RCEPmember states.

According to the study, ASEAN member states are mainlyproducers of apparels which are final product exporters rather thanintermediate producers. ASEAN countries can benefit from the RCEP agreement byexpanding their imports of textiles from China.

ASEAN agribusiness and tourism are typically regional ordomestic market-oriented industries that could penetrate both ASEAN and RCEPmarkets.

The direct impact of RCEP on trade and investment as measuredby increases in value is estimated at 42 billion USD in exports and 900 millionUSD in FDI in the current value. These numbers correspond to 1.8 percent and0.3 percent of current exports and FDI flows.

To maximise benefits from the RCEP agreement, the paperidentifies the following five specific policy measures for ASEAN, including creatingRCEP production network to widen value chains and promoting trade and investment;utilising existing production programmes and initiatives of RCEP member states,one being Japan’s programme to diversify and multiplicate supply chains inASEAN to deal with various risks such as COVID-19 that disrupted the supplychains; attracting foreign direct investments especially those that createsvalue chains from non-ASEAN RCEP member states; strengthening relationship withJapan since the country is seen to benefit more from the RCEP agreement thanASEAN; and developing parts and components of other RCEP member countries’exports that are locked into the production lines of various GVCs./.
VNA

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