16-Nation Asia Free Trade Talks Begin in Japan

Kobe, Feb. 27 (Jiji Press)--Sixteen countries mainly in Asia on Monday started a five-day meeting on an envisioned regional free trade pact in the western Japan city of Kobe. Talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, are expected to focus on how to narrow the gap over import tariff cuts and investment and intellectual property rules. Another key point is whether the countries will be able to reach consensus on promoting free trade amid concerns about an increase in protectionist moves. The participants to the 17th round of RCEP talks are Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, plus the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The first round began in May 2013. Of the 15 fields of the talks, economic and technical cooperation and small companies have already been settled. Meanwhile, in the bilateral talks for goods tariffs, Japan and China, Japan and South Korea, China and India remain apart. On intellectual property, countries are divided over the handling of drug patents, and on electronic commerce, they are split on issues including disclosure regulations for software contents. The Japanese government aims to establish "high-quality rules" through RCEP talks, according to Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko. Tokyo also hopes to effectuate the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, whose signatories include Japan and six other RCEP members, even after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered his country to withdraw from the deal. In the RCEP negotiations, China and India are reluctant to introduce deregulations similar to those under the TPP. END