HANOI, Nov 12 (NNN-VNA) – With the 37th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related meetings to take place from today to Nov 15, all eyes are on the potential signing of the long-awaited Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
According to Nguyen Quoc Dung, deputy minister of foreign affairs of Vietnam, the ASEAN chair for 2020, the signing of RCEP would take place on Nov 15, at the RCEP summit, if its member countries manage to complete their respective domestic procedures for the signing.
Recovery in the post-COVID-19 era will also be a hot topic in the next few days, as multiple cooperation agreements will be on the table.
Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
RCEP is a proposed mega trade pact between 10 ASEAN members and their six free trade partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Since its introduction, at the 19th ASEAN Summit in Nov, 2011, more than 30 rounds of negotiations and a number of inter-sessional and ministerial meetings have been held.
The negotiation of the deal has now been finalised, and once signed, the deal would boost regional trade, as supply chain was disrupted due to COVID-19, Dung said, at a press conference on Monday.
It is believed that RCEP would create the world’s largest trading bloc, with lower trade barriers and further market access for goods and services, attracting foreign companies to a more integrated ASEAN.
“With RCEP, ASEAN will continue to become an attractive investment destination and a promising market for partner countries,” said Vo Dai Luoc, former head of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.
The deal would also prompt ASEAN to reform its business environment, to meet investors’ expectations, thus enhance transparency in trade and investment, Luoc said.
“This is a big statement for trade liberalisation and for protecting the open global trading system,” said Peter Drysdale, head of East Asian Bureau of Economic Research, at Australian National University.
Apart from the potential signing of RCEP, ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework and ASEAN Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies will also be in place during the meetings, in a bid to cope with and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
They will become the latest fruits of months of concerted efforts of ASEAN and their dialogue partners in COVID-19 response, which remained a prime topic at several regional summits since the outbreak.
“These initiatives demonstrate the spirit of solidarity and cohesion of ASEAN in joining hands against the pandemic, as during difficult times, it might be easy for members to put their own interests first,” Luoc said.
Luu Ngoc Trinh, senior researcher at the Centre for Strategy and International Security, stressed that the initiatives are necessary, despite the assistance of dialogue partners, including China for ASEAN countries to overcome the impacts of COVID-19, both in healthcare and economy.
“The countries need to have mechanisms to jointly oversee the implementation of those commitments to ensure their effectiveness,” he noted.– NNN-VNA
