RCEP a boon to access and attractiveness for developing economies as investment destinations

With ongoing global health and economic crisis, the agreement can help ensure an unimpeded flow of essential goods within the region

Published Mon, Jan 3, 2022 · 05:50 AM

RCEP

THE Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) - the world's largest free trade agreement (FTA) - finally entered into force on New Year's Day, having been ratified by 10 of its 15 signatories so far.

The agreement needed 8 long years of negotiations and was signed in 2020 in Hanoi by all 10 Asean member states - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - as well as Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

The RCEP covers a market of around 2.2 billion people and about US$26.2 trillion of global output. It covers 30 per cent of the world's total gross domestic product (GDP), trade and population.