From Linda Khoo Hui Li
BANGKOK, Oct 24 (NNN-Bernama) — Thailand and Japan agreed to accelerate the conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement by end of this year.
In a bilateral meeting in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, Thailand’s Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan o-cha and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed the need to conclude the economic pact during the upcoming 35th ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings to be held in Bangkok from November 1 to 4.
Thailand’s Government House said Bangkok and Tokyo agreed to push forward mutual cooperation in human resource development, promotion of investment and bS-Curve industries in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) as well as the development of Smart City.
It added both leaders also agreed to enhance cooperation in environmental management, free trade promotion as well as acceleration of RCEP negotiation, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPL) participation, and Mekong-Japan cooperation.
“Prayuth also affirmed Thailand’s readiness to host the 11th Mekong Japan Summit on November 4 and to work closely with Japan in executing implementations under the Tokyo Strategy 2018 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation and Mekong-Japan Initiative for SDGs towards 2030,” it said.
Prayuth is in Tokyo attending the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace.
ASEAN’s Chair, Thailand hopes to conclude the multilateral trade agreement between the 10 member states of ASEAN — Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — and its six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.
The RCEP agreement negotiations were launched during the 21st Asean Summit in November 2012 in Phnom Penh.
RCEP members were working on two parallel negotiations, on market access in goods and services, and also on a draft agreement text.
Market access negotiations, conducted bilaterally, were already 80.4 per cent completed, with 16 per cent of the remainder “near conclusion,” and 3.6 per cent still need to be discussed urgently.
A total of 14 chapters of the 20-chapter text have so far been approved by all members.
The trade pact comprises a population of 3.4 billion with a total gross domestic product (GDP) of US$49.5 trillion (RM207 trillion), or about 39 per cent of the world’s GDP.
The deal is likely to be signed next year if the negotiations could be finalised in the meeting in November in Bangkok.
— NNN-BERNAMA