Trade agreement including NZ expected at Asean summit
HANOI: Southeast Asian leaders began a multilateral summit yesterday expected to address tensions in the South China Sea and tackle plans for a postpandemic economic recovery in a region where USChina rivalry has been rising.
The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) had so far not been ``drawn into the maelstroms'' of those rivalries and challenges to the international multilateral system, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in his opening remarks at the 37th Asean Summit in Hanoi.
Leaders of Asean, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are expected to sign the Chinabacked Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on Sunday in what could become the world's biggest trade agreement. — Reuters