Economic ministers push for world's biggest trade deal

World
Europe

06:13

Economic ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries and six additional Asia-Pacific countries concluded their talks in Singapore on Saturday, during which officials increased efforts in the hope of substantively concluding the negotiations of the world’s biggest trade deal.

Called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the trade accord includes the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and China.

If passed, RCEP will include 40 percent of global GDP and half of the world's population.

The negotiations formally launched in November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia, and 23 rounds of talks have been held in the past years.

"Hopefully there will be a final version of the RCEP agreement reached in the next few months," said Song Qingrun, associate professor at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Song said this region will be the real engine of the world economy. He also said member states in the region are advocating multilateralism while opposing unilateralism and protectionism.

Talking about US President Donald Trump's skipping of the ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit in November, Song said part of the reason is that Trump is facing domestic pressure over midterm elections.

He added that Washington's decision shows that Trump pays little attention to multilateralism and regional integrity, and this will cause more doubts over US commitments in the Asia-Pacific region.