ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi (Source: VNA) Jakarta (VNA) – ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi said the bloc hada momentous day when leaders of its member states, Australia, China, Japan, theRepublic of Korea, and New Zealand witnessed the signing of the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement.
He calledthe signing a historic event “as it underpins ASEAN’s role in leading amultilateral trade agreement of this magnitude, despite global and regionalchallenges and eight years of negotiations.”
“RCEP willgive a much-needed boost for a swift and robust recovery for businesses andpeoples in our region particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemiccrisis,” the official added.
RCEP isthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s biggest free trade pact todate, covering a market of 2.2 billion people with a combined size of 26.2trillion USD or 30 percent of the world’s GDP.
The deal,upon entry into force, will improve market access with tariffs and quotaseliminated in over 65 percent of goods traded. Having 20 Chapters, 17 Annexesand 54 schedules of commitments covering market access, rules and disciplines,and economic and technical cooperation, it will make business predictable withcommon rules of origin and transparent regulations. This will encourage firmsto invest more in the region, including building supply chains and services,and to generate jobs.
Negotiationsof RCEP, beginning in 2013, were led by Iman Pambagyo, Director-General ofIndonesia’s Ministry of Trade, and were supported by the ASEAN Secretariat.
Thevirtual signing of the pact by ministers of countries involved took placefollowing the conclusion of the 4th RCEP Summit on November 15, as part of the37th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits hosted by Vietnam./.
VNA
