Concluding RCEP this year is region’s 'collective interest and highest priority,' say trade ministers

NEW DELHI: Ministers from 16 Asia-Pacific countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have said it is in the region’s "collective interest and highest priority" to conclude the trade pact this year.

“It is in the region’s collective interest and highest priority to conclude a modern, comprehensive, high quality, and mutually beneficial RCEP in 2019,” the trade bloc said in a joint statement on Saturday after the two-day Intersessional Ministerial Meeting in Beijing held on August 2-3, adding that the pact is the “most important trade agenda in the region”.

RCEP is a proposed regional economic integration agreement among the 10 Asean countries and its six free-trade agreement (FTA) partners- Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, South Korea and India.


India was represented by commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan at the meeting.

The ministers highlighted that growth outlook remains “overcast by rising uncertainties”. In 2018, the RCEP region grew 5.6%, slightly moderated from 5.8% the previous year.

Slow progress
Though the number of concluded chapters remained the same at seven, the ministers welcomed the conclusion of the annexes on telecommunication, financial and professional services. They said that over two-thirds of market access negotiations have reached “mutually satisfactory outcomes” with work on the remaining areas being intensified through constructive engagements.

“The months ahead will be critical for the RCEP negotiations, and we agreed that it is important to exercise maximum flexibility to resolve the remaining issues,” said Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing in a Facebook post.

Covering 47.4% of global population, 32.2% of the global economy, 29.1% of global trade, and 32.5% of global investment flows in 2018, the ministers emphasised that RCEP is the most important trade agenda in the region, supportive of an open, inclusive, and rules-based trading system, and an enabling trade and investment environment.

The ministers urged all countries to find "pragmatic and solution-oriented approaches to narrow divergence on the various remaining issues", and said talks would intensify.

Trade negotiators of the member countries will meet in Jakarta this month before the annual (7th) RCEP Ministerial Meeting to be held in September 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.