Jurin vows to wrap up RCEP talks by 2019

>> Jurin Laksanawisit, the deputy prime minister and commerce minister, vows to complete the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade talks by the end of this year.

“The meeting between 16 trade ministers ended with good results, and all of the ministers insisted the trade talks on RCEP will be complete by the end of this year,” Mr Jurin said yesterday after the 8th RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting, held in Beijing from Aug 2-3.

The main issues that the trade ministers discussed were foreign investment, e-commerce, and which items should be on the zero-tariff list.

The ministers agreed two-thirds of the goods and services should be on the zero-tariff list.

Other issues settled at the meeting in Beijing were regulations on telecom, finance and regulations on foreign workers in the member countries.

Mr Jurin said the ministers have made progress in the talks. “We’ve completed about 60% of the RCEP talks, including negotiations on seven of the total 20 RCEP chapters.”

Known as the mega Asia-Pacific trade agreement, the RCEP will give opportunities to Thai companies to invest in member countries across a range of industries.

Signatory countries to the RCEP have a combined population of about 3.56 billion, with a trade volume of more than US$10.3 trillion (328 trillion baht) or 29% of the world’s trade.

If the RCEP is finalised, the 16 countries will form a major trading bloc that covers around one-third of the world’s gross domestic product.