Members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) along with
six partners have agreed to commence first-round talks next year on a regional
free-trade partnership, which will form the world’s largest economic bloc by
2015.
The new partnership, dubbed the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or “ASEAN+6” trade pact,
will create a 16-country integrated market in the Asia-Pacific region with a
population of over 3 billion and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of
US$17.23 trillion.
It will comprise six countries
from outside ASEAN — Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New
Zealand — that have already signed separate free trade agreements (FTAs) with
ASEAN.
Economic ministers of the 16
countries would submit the key recommendations for approval to ASEAN-related
summits in November in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Trade Ministry’s director
general for international trade cooperation, Iman Pambagyo said.
“Every country has shown a strong
willingness to realize the initiative next year,” he told The Jakarta Post in
an email over the weekend.
To facilitate the process, ASEAN
members and the FTA partners have already set up three working groups on trade
in goods, services and investment.
The working group on trade in
goods was the most advanced of the three; it had met for three rounds of talks
with the six FTA partners, Iman said, adding that the other two groups had only
had one meeting involving only ASEAN members.
“So far, discussions on trade in
goods has made points of convergence,” he said.
The working group on trade in
services would meet this month to consolidate their positions before meeting
FTA partners later this year, Iman added.
The RCEP, endorsed by leaders at
the 19th ASEAN Summit in Bali in November last year, aims to create a
partnership agreement that embraces deeper engagement than existing FTAs,
resulting in smoother flows of trade and investment within the region.
As it is based on open accession,
the partnership will allow any of the six FTA partners to take part, either
from the start or later when they are ready to join in. It will also
accommodate the interests of other economic partners to create an open
regionalism.
The RCEP is also seen as a tool
to further maintain ASEAN’s centrality, which has recently been challenged by
several regional trade agreements, such as the Trans-
Pacific Partnership (TPP), that
do not include all ASEAN members.
The American-led TPP was launched
during the Honolulu Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last year
by US President Barack Obama and leaders of nine Asia-Pacific countries.
TPP is designed to be a “beyond
ordinary free trade deal” covering areas commonly excluded by other trade
agreements, such as government procurement, and promoting higher labor,
environmental and intellectual property standards, with which developing
countries may find difficulties complying.
Linda Yulisman
Business & Investment Opportunities
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