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

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.