Leaders of RCEP member states at the 3rd RCEP Summit in Thailand in November 2019 (Source: VNA) Bangkok (VNA) - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)dialogue partners are advancing the review of legal texts, with an expectationof the process finishing in July so the pact can be signed at the ASEAN Summitin Vietnam later this year as scheduled.
Auramon Supthaweethum, Director-General of the Trade Negotiations Department under Thailand’s Ministryof Commerce, said the working panel handling the legal text-scrubbing for thepact has already finished six chapters and is working on the remaining 14chapters.
The COVID-19pandemic has put off most face-to-face meetings for ASEAN and the RCEP in thefirst half of the year, forcing dialogue partners to use video conferencing orvirtual meetings to discuss scrubbing of the legal texts for the remainingchapters.
The first videoconference was applied to the RCEP Trade Negotiation Committee meeting on April7. The next video conference of the committee is scheduled for April 20-24.
The scrubbing of thelegal texts for the pact should be finished by July so RCEP members have enoughtime for consideration before officially signing the pact later this yearduring the ASEAN Summit in Vietnam, Auramon said.
The RCEP is aproposed free trade agreement between ten member states of ASEAN and sixdialogue partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australiaand New Zealand.
Negotiations on theRCEP started in late 2012 at the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh,Cambodia.
In last-minute talkson November 4 last year, with Thailand as ASEAN Chair, India pulled the plug onjoining the RCEP over unresolved issues, especially those concerningagricultural tariffs.
India laterannounced it would not be joining the pact this year during the ASEAN Summit inVietnam.
The RCEP's leaderstatement noted that 15 participating countries have concluded text-basednegotiations for all 20 chapters and market access issues.
The deal has beenscheduled for official signing this year, coming into force either in 2021 orJanuary 2022.
Auramon said signingthe RCEP is crucial to the region, especially with the pandemic delivering aheavy blow to the world's economy.
Accounting foraround 30 percent of the globe’s GDP and population, RCEP 15 remains a largestfree trade agreement (FTA) in the world. Once becoming effective, it will bringout significant economic benefits to all 15 member states./.
VNA
