International Business News on November 15，During the Fourth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Leaders' Meeting，在国务院总理李克强和其他与会领导人集体见证下，Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, on behalf of the Chinese government, signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCMP) with trade ministers from 10 ASEAN countries and Japan, the ROK, Australia and New Zealand。
The RCEP, which includes 20 chapters and covers comprehensive market access commitments for goods, services and investment, is a comprehensive, modern, high-quality and mutually beneficial free trade agreement。The overall level of liberalization of trade in goods should reach more than 90%;The commitment on trade in services is significantly higher than that of the original "10+1" free trade agreement，The investment adopts the negative list model to make market opening commitments，The areas of rules incorporate a high level of trade facilitation, intellectual property, e-commerce, competition policy, government procurement and other content。The RCEP has also fully taken into account the differences in economic size and level of development among members, and set up special chapters on small and medium-sized enterprises and economic and technical cooperation to help developing members, especially the least developed members, fully share the fruits of RCEP。
The signing of RCEP marks the successful launch of the world's largest free trade area and a new milestone in regional economic integration in East Asia。The total population, economic volume and trade volume of the 15 RCEP member countries all account for about 30% of the global total, which means that about 1/3 of the global economic volume has formed a large integrated market。This will strongly support free trade and the multilateral trading system, promote international cooperation against the epidemic, stabilize regional industrial and supply chains, and boost regional and global economic recovery。
In the next step, all parties will commit themselves to fulfilling their respective domestic approval procedures and promote the early entry into force and implementation of the agreement。
(Article from International Business Daily)