Officials pose for a photo at the Preparatory RCEP Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok on November 1 (Photo: VNA) Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand has urged Japan to helpfinalise the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free tradeagreement grouping the 10 ASEAN countries and six other nations.
Thai media reported that the country’s DeputyPrime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and Hideki Makihara, a senior vice-ministerof Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, discussed the RCEP at ameeting on November 2 on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit and relatedsummits, which are taking place in Bangkok and Nonthaburi province.
Somkid asked the Japanese official to supportthe formation of the 16-member regional trading bloc, as both countries sharethe view that the RCEP deal will drive the region's growth and help with tradeand investment.
Negotiations on the RCEP began in November 2012with the aim of reinforcing economic ties between ASEAN and the six partners ofChina, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, India, and New Zealand.
Thailand hopes that the RCEP negotiations, whichhave lasted for almost seven years, will complete within this year, when itholds the ASEAN chairmanship.
Earlier, representatives of the RCEP members hadattended a ministerial meeting to prepare for the third RCEP Summit, slated forNovember 4. At this event, the officials discussed ways to deal with theoutstanding problems in the negotiations. They also highly valued efforts andoutcomes negotiators have attained so far in 2019.
As a major free trade deal of the Asia-Pacific,the RCEP, once signed, will gather 16 countries in a trading bloc of 3.56billion people and a trade value of over 1 trillion USD, equivalent to 29percent of the global trade./.
VNA
