Illustrative image. (Photo: Asean.org)Hanoi (VNA) – PhilippineSecretary of Trade and Industry Ramon Lopez on May 8 urged negotiators of theRegional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to speed up talks,reaffirming the need to conclude the free trade deal this year.
Opening the 18th round of RCEP negotiations, Lopez said the negotiators need to keep themomentum of the talks going and encouraged all parties to achieve a sustainableconclusion of the “high-quality and credible agreement” by the end of thisyear.
He said 17 rounds ofnegotiations have been held so far since RCEP talks were launched in 2012 andthey are moving forward despite the challenges.
At the end of the 30th ASEAN Summit last week, ASEAN leaders instructed their ministers andnegotiators to accelerate efforts building on the progress achieved thus far.
The leaders alsoreiterated the commitment of ASEAN member states to work together in acooperative manner in line with the guiding principles and objectives for negotiatingthe RCEP towards the swift conclusion of the RCEP negotiations.
The RCEP is alarge-scale free trade agreement, aiming to tie together ten ASEAN memberstates and their trade partners, including Australia, China, India, Japan, theRepublic of Korea, and New Zealand.
The pact will expandthe ASEAN market from 600 million to 3.5 billion people, representing abouthalf of the world’s population.
Its negotiationsstarted in November 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and was initially scheduledfor conclusion by the end of 2015.-VNA
VNA
