RCEP To Boost Growth Momentum In Region

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) -- The implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would be a boost to the growth momentum in the region, especially as it involves countries which are among the fastest growing economies in the world. As such, with the view to push for a conclusion to the RCEP negotiations, the recently held third (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial Meeting provided its members with political guidance on key outstanding areas, namely goods, services and investment, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in a statement Tuesday. Ministers and vice-ministers who attended the meeting had agreed to provide flexibilities to bridge the gaps on issues and challenges faced in achieving consensus on certain elements of the modalities related to goods, services and investment. "These flexibilities are allowed in the initial stage to cater to the different levels of ambition of the RCEP member countries. "This does not in any way undermine our commitment to ensure that RCEP remains a quality agreement and commercially beneficial to all parties involved," said MITI Minister, Mustapa Mohamed. The meeting, held in Hanoi, Vietnam on May 21-22, 2017 was attended by ministers and vice-ministers from ASEAN, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea and India. It also highlighted to the negotiating partners that in many areas, ASEAN had made substantial levels of commitment and in some instances going beyond any of the current ASEAN+1 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). “The willingness of ASEAN to go beyond the existing ASEAN+1 FTA is due to RCEP’s value and its economic significance to ASEAN and the partner countries. “It also demonstrates ASEAN’s strong commitment to engage with partner countries in creating this mega FTA,” said Mustapa. The ministers also agreed that some working groups (WGs) such as the WG on Rules of Origin on Trade in Goods should be allowed to meet intersessionally to expedite their work given that the work done and rules developed were highly technical. “In Hanoi, the ministers achieved some progress in the negotiations and expressed confidence that the negotiations remained on track. It was also one of the Philippines’s deliverables as Chair of ASEAN 2017,” said the ministry. Since the launch of RCEP negotiations during the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November 2012, the ministers have been continuously involved in the negotiating process and to date, they have met formally four times and three times intersessionally including the meeting in Hanoi. Two out of 20 chapters of the RCEP agreement, namely on economic and technical cooperation and the small and medium enterprises had been concluded, while several others were nearing conclusion. Senior officials would be meeting for the 19th round of negotiations in Hyderabad, India, scheduled on July 19-28, 2017. Meanwhile, the ministers would be meeting in September 2017 in the Philippines to further review the progress and address any specific issues that remain unresolved and need ministerial guidance. -- BERNAMA