RCEP pact likely to be signed at 4th RCEP Summit in Nov

22 Oct '20

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to be signed next month at the 4th RCEP Summit during the 37th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Vietnam in mid-November, according to Cambodian minister of commerce Pan Sorasak, who recently attended the 11th RCEP Inter-sessional Ministerial Meeting held via virtually.

“[We] agreed to have it [the RCEP] signed by the end of the year in hopes that it will create a more modernised, broader and more highly efficient partnership framework that provides economic interests to each member through the expanding regional trade and investment,” the minister was quoted as saying by a Cambodian newspaper report.

Fifteen countries except India, which withdrew in November last year, will sign the deal. The members have not yet responded to India’s concerns regarding its trade deficit with many of the countries.

Besides the 10 ASEAN member states, the other five partners are China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Even without India, RCEP will cover more than 2.2 billion people, or 30 per cent of the world population, a total gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $25.6 trillion (29.3 per cent of world GDP) and trade value of more than $10.4 trillion (27.4 per cent of global trade).

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