RCEP: 20 Rounds of Talks, Two Missed Deadlines, Leaders To Step In

By D Arul Rajoo MANILA, Nov 13 (Bernama) -- With two missed deadlines after almost five years of negotiations, the leaders from 16 countries will meet for the first time here on Tuesday to try narrow the gap and accomplish the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Minister, Mustapa Mohamed, said the ministers and senior officials had met eight and 20 times respectively but failed to create the world’s largest trade bloc, comprising nearly one-third of the global economy. "We are still finding it difficult to narrow the huge gap between the participating countries. There are two extreme views … the first, with low-level ambition, while the second, mostly developed countries, looking at very high ambition," he told Malaysian media covering the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits. According to Mustapa, the first deadline was in 2016 and the second this year, adding that the leaders viewed the delay seriously and decided to meet on Tuesday to find ways to secure a deal. RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 members of Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their six dialogue partners -- Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. It was officially launched at the 2012 ASEAN Summit in Cambodia and became prominent after US President Donald Trump announced that his country was withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) following his election victory last year. RCEP will boast a population of 3.4 billion people, with a total gross domestic product of US$49.5 trillion (US$1 = RM4.19), or about 39 per cent, of the world’s gross domestic product. "For TPP, the leaders meet almost every year and that was one of the reasons it was accomplished, although Trump withdrew US from the agreement later," said Mustapa. Last September, media reports quoted the Philippine Trade Secretary, Ramon Lopez, as saying that ASEAN ministers had agreed on a few key points as they looked to make progress on RCEP, while another report stated that India was still resisting pressure to meet liberalising targets. Mustapa also said that ASEAN Economic Ministers signed the ASEAN-Hong Kong, China Free Trade Agreement (AHKFTA) and the Agreement on Investment among ASEAN member states and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (AHKIA) on Sunday. He said among others, the signing, the 13th for Malaysia and seventh for ASEAN, would greatly benefit, among others, the professional services as Hong Kong has one of the highest rates in the world in terms of services. The AHKFTA covers elements related to trade in goods and related issues such as tariffs, rules of origin, non-tariff measures, Customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedies and technical barriers to trade. Others include trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights and dispute settlement. In 2015, Hong Kong was ASEAN’s seventh largest trading partner, while the regional block was Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner, after China. -- BERNAMA