ASEAN and six Asian leaders will this November announce the official
establishment of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which
will make it the biggest free-trade market on the globe.
"The leaders should come up
with a formal statement to form the RCEP. The negotiations are expected to
start early next year in order to wrap up the pact by 2015, just in time for
the full implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community," Somkiat Triratpan,
deputy director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, said last week.
The leaders from 16 countries
will mainly discuss the RCEP or ASEAN+6 free-trade agreement amid concerns over
slowing global economic growth, he said.
The announcement is scheduled to
be made during the ASEAN Leaders Summit in Cambodia from November 15-20. The
RCEP will gather up the free-trade agreements between ASEAN and the six partner
nations and then draw up further agreements to open up more trade, services and
investment among the member states.
The RCEP countries will commit to
liberalising almost 100 per cent of trade among them following many effective
bilateral free-trade pacts between ASEAN and its partners. However, there is
still a degree of protectionism for sensitive goods of some countries such as
rice.
The region may also move slowly
on freeing service and investment under the RCEP due to development disparity
among the economies, so RCEP countries have to continue integrating to
eliminate the barriers to opening up service and investment more deeply.
ASEAN countries and the private
sector envision the RCEP as paving the way for stimulating the Asian economy
and helping to balance expansion between Eastern and Western countries. The
pact worth US$17 trillion (S$20.7 trillion, Bt522.49 trillion) in trade will
also offset the power of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which
is gathering nine trade members in Asia-Pacific.
The RCEP will also act as an
important stepping stone to achieving the Free-Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific
before 2020.
ASEAN groups 10 countries in
Southeast Asia. The six partner countries are China, Japan, South Korea, India,
Australia and New Zealand.
The other ASEAN countries and six
partners together account for 56 per cent or $255 billion of Thailand's total
trade. If this regional free-trade pact is successfully concluded, Thailand
will be able to increase trade with those countries significantly, he added.
According to the Thailand
Development Research Institute and the department's study, the RCEP will help
boost the Thai economy by 4.03 per cent. Local products that stand to benefit
the most are processed fruits and vegetables, electrical appliances and
electronic goods, automobile parts, rubber and plastic.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation/Asia News Network
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, you may contact us at: sbc.pte@gmail.com, provisionally. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment