Signing of RCEP to help post-pandemic regional economic recovery: Lao official

Vientiane (VNA) – The completion and early signing of the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership (RCEP) is very important to the process of economic
recovery in the region, said a member of the Lao negotiation team to the RCEP
talks.
Santisouk
Phounesavath, deputy head of the Foreign Trade Policy Department under Laos’
Ministry of Industry and Trade, told the Vietnam News Agency that due to the
different levels of development in RCEP participating countries, the talks have
encountered many difficulties. However, most of them have been settled and very
few remain after eight years of negotiations, he said, adding that he
personally believes the deal can be signed at the end of this year.
According
to the official, the signing of the RCEP will be a sign showing that the deal’s
members support the multilateral trade system, so it is important to accelerate
the work to quickly complete and sign the deal.
Once
signed, the RCEP will become the world’s biggest trade agreement, thus creating
opportunities and markets for Laos, helping the country participate deeper in regional
supply chains, he said.
The
RCEP is a free trade agreement in the Indo-Pacific region between the 10 member
states of the ASEAN and its five FTA
partners (Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea). India initially participated
in the talks, but it withdrew in November 2019. The 15 negotiating parties
account for 30 percent of the world's population and just under 30 percent of
the world's GDP.
RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012./.