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ASEAN wants to expand RCEP membership

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn has said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is striving to increase the membership of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
ASEAN wants to expand RCEP membership ảnh 1RCEP accounts for 32% of the world’s total GDP. (Photo: VNA)
Jakarta (VNA) – ASEAN Secretary-General KaoKim Hourn has said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is strivingto increase the membership of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Speaking at the ASEAN-Japan Business Week in Tokyo onJune 5, Kao said the ten-member grouping also plans to establish a unit in the ASEAN Secretariat insupport of the RCEP, which accounts for 32% of the world’s total GDP.

ASEAN economic ministers are also working onprocedures to allow other economies to join the agreement.

The RCEP gathers the 10 ASEAN members (Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,Thailand, and Vietnam) and China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), Australiaand New Zealand.

The deal has recently come into full effect in all the15 member countries after it officially took effect in the Philippines onJune 2.

The RCEP will eliminate up to 90% of tariffs on goods traded among the signatorieswithin 20 years, starting from the agreement's entry into force.

Kao called the RCEP – the largest free trade agreementin the world – a crucial initiative in support of businesses, especially thosefrom Japan. According to him, more than 14,000 Japanese companies are operating in ASEAN countries./.

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