Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) has agreed to prioritise its signining of the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with six free trade partners by theend of this year.
The six partners are China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, India,Australia, and New Zealand.
The information was unveiled by Minister of Industry andTrade Tran Tuan Anh at an August 30 press conference on the 52nd ASEAN EconomicMinisters' Meeting and related meetings.
According to the minister, most of the major issues in the RCEPnegotiations have been handled satisfactorily, with ASEAN ministers giving specificdirections, including those on legal review, to boost preparation for thesigning and to facilitate the engagement of India in the process.
There is a need for another conference this October toreview the preparation before reporting the work at the ASEAN Summit in thefollowing month, he added.
The official said the pact is always a prioritised contentin Vietnam’s integration strategy.
The RCEP deal aims to establish common rules for e-commerce,trade and intellectual property. It will cover a third of the global economyand half the world's population, if India is included, with its GDP accountingfor 32 percent of the global GDP.
Concerning the 52nd ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting andrelated meetings that ran from August 22 to 29, the minister said it was themost important event of the bloc’s economic channel this year.
At the their meeting, ASEAN economic ministers agreed tocontinue carrying out initiatives and economic priorities set by Vietnam as the Chairof ASEAN this year. Two initiatives on ASEAN digital integration indicator and termsof reference (TOR) on connecting ASEAN innovation centres have been completed,while the remaining 11 ones are under implementation to be done by year’s end.
In addition, ASEAN member nations approved the import tariffin implementing the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA); completedprocedures for the signing of the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on TypeApproval for Automotive Products (AP MRA); and agreed to conduct the ASEAN-WideSelf Certification Scheme (AWSC) starting September 20 this year.
They also discussed and sought solutions to theimplementation of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025 in line with thenew regional context as well as orientations to build a master plan for ASEAN’spost-pandemic economic recovery.
Their discussions also covered the enhancement ofcooperation between the bloc and a number of partners like Australia, NewZealand, Canada, and the UK.
Economic ministers from ASEAN member nations and the threepartners of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (known as ASEAN +3) passedan action plan on easing COVID-19 economic impact and a joint initiative on economicconnection to fight the pandemic.
The ASEAN ministers agreed to maintain open trade andinvestment market, limit the application of unnecessary trade barriers, increase measures to facilitate trade to stabilise production, and sustainsupply chain linkages./.
VNA
