Asean aims to encourage its six trading
partners under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to liberalise
more products and services.
"The
RCEP should be larger than each bilateral trade pact between Asean and the six
trading partners so that the RCEP will efficiently promote trade and economic
growth in the region," Somkiat Triratpan, deputy director-general of
Thailand's Trade Negotiations Department, said after the recent fifth meeting
of the RCEP Trade Negotiating Committee in Singapore.
Economic
ministers will discuss speeding up liberalisation and plans to knock down
non-tariff barriers to ensure the RCEP meets the target of implementation by
the end of next year at their next meetings set for August 27 in Myanmar's Nay
Pyi Daw and India from December 1-5.
The
discussions will also touch on other collaboration and non-tariff issues,
including eliminating non-tariff barriers, developing sanitary standards and
synchronising customs procedures.
The
RCEP countries have agreed to discuss new topics such as investment promotion,
intellectual-property rights, competitiveness and economic cooperation, legal
aspects, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, e-commerce and
government procurement.
The six
trading partners are China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New
Zealand.
If the
16-member RCEP is accomplished by 2015, it will be the world's largest
free-trade area, with a population of 3.35 billion, or more than half of the
world's people, and gross domestic product of US$17.1 trillion (Bt538
trillion), or 27 per cent of global GDP.
Petchanet
Pratruangkrai
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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