Phnom Penh (VNA) - The RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is set to be signed nextmonth at the 4th RCEP Summit during the 37th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam inmid-November, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak has said.
Experts said the dealwill open a wealth of new market opportunities for Cambodia to diversify itsexport portfolio and accelerate the inflow of regional investments.
Sorasak attended the11th RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting held via video link last week. Hesaid all ASEAN ministers present at the meeting acknowledged the strides madetowards the RCEP.
“Ministers of ASEANhighly evaluate the efforts of the trade negotiations committee and legalaffairs working group which completed their works as planned despite thechallenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sorasak was cited by The Phnom PenhPost as saying.
“[We] agreed to haveit [the RCEP] signed by the end of the year in hopes that it will create a moremodernised, broader and more highly efficient partnership framework thatprovides economic interests to each member through the expanding regional tradeand investment,” he said.
Royal Academy ofCambodia economics researcher Hong Vanak said RCEP is a platform for ASEAN thatwas years in the making.
“Cambodia now is notlike it used to be. We have a wide selection of agricultural products on offerin addition to garments and textiles. Moreover, it has much more room to enticemore regional investment to re-export to other countries that are partners ofASEAN,” Vanak said.
Fifteen countries –with the notable exception of India which withdrew in November last year – willsign the deal. The members have not yet been able to respond to India’sconcerns regarding its trade deficit with many of them, according to Thailand’sThe Nation.
Besides the 10 ASEANmember states, the other five partners are China, Japan, the Republic of Korea,Australia and New Zealand.
Even without India,RCEP will cover more than 2.2 billion people, or 30 percent of the worldpopulation, a total GDP of more than 25.6 trillion USD (29.3 percent of worldGDP) and trade value of more than 10.4 trillion USD (27.4 percent of globaltrade)./.
Experts said the dealwill open a wealth of new market opportunities for Cambodia to diversify itsexport portfolio and accelerate the inflow of regional investments.
Sorasak attended the11th RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting held via video link last week. Hesaid all ASEAN ministers present at the meeting acknowledged the strides madetowards the RCEP.
“Ministers of ASEANhighly evaluate the efforts of the trade negotiations committee and legalaffairs working group which completed their works as planned despite thechallenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sorasak was cited by The Phnom PenhPost as saying.
“[We] agreed to haveit [the RCEP] signed by the end of the year in hopes that it will create a moremodernised, broader and more highly efficient partnership framework thatprovides economic interests to each member through the expanding regional tradeand investment,” he said.
Royal Academy ofCambodia economics researcher Hong Vanak said RCEP is a platform for ASEAN thatwas years in the making.
“Cambodia now is notlike it used to be. We have a wide selection of agricultural products on offerin addition to garments and textiles. Moreover, it has much more room to enticemore regional investment to re-export to other countries that are partners ofASEAN,” Vanak said.
Fifteen countries –with the notable exception of India which withdrew in November last year – willsign the deal. The members have not yet been able to respond to India’sconcerns regarding its trade deficit with many of them, according to Thailand’sThe Nation.
Besides the 10 ASEANmember states, the other five partners are China, Japan, the Republic of Korea,Australia and New Zealand.
Even without India,RCEP will cover more than 2.2 billion people, or 30 percent of the worldpopulation, a total GDP of more than 25.6 trillion USD (29.3 percent of worldGDP) and trade value of more than 10.4 trillion USD (27.4 percent of globaltrade)./.
VNA
