General

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) will come into force one year later. International observers believe that although the COVID-19 has been delayed and repeated, and the global economic situation is complex and severe, RCEP continues to release dividends to help accelerate and upgrade regional economic and trade cooperation. Regional economic cooperation has maintained a good momentum of development, showing strong resilience and great potential, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.

Improve the quality and efficiency of trade and investment

After the formal implementation of RCEP on January 1 this year, tariff concessions, cumulative rules of origin, trade facilitation and other system dividends have brought tangible growth and benefits to countries and their enterprises.

Olamon, Director of the Trade Negotiation Department of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, said that the most obvious benefit of the effective implementation of RCEP was to boost trade among member countries in the region and further promote regional economic integration. According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, in the first nine months of this year, the total import and export value of Thailand and RCEP member countries increased by 10.1% compared with the same period last year.

Hu Yishan, chief consultant of the Malaysian Pacific Research Center, said that for Southeast Asian countries, RCEP has played an important role in further removing intra regional trade barriers.

Liu Ziyang, a professor at Gyeonggi University in South Korea, said that RCEP is not only a free trade agreement with the largest population and largest economic and trade scale in the world, but also a comprehensive, modern, high-quality and mutually beneficial free trade agreement.

A series of arrangements represented by the cumulative rules of origin of RCEP are effectively reducing regional production costs, improving trade efficiency, and strengthening regional industrial chain supply chain cooperation. Li Yan, Chinese President of Petronas, said that RCEP has promoted regional industrial circulation and division of labor cooperation, formed a mechanism of complementary resources and technology, and is conducive to member countries giving full play to their advantages in international trade.

Common development adds momentum

At present, world economic growth is sluggish, and economic globalization and free trade are facing severe challenges. Observers believe that RCEP provides stability and certainty for the regional economy and even the world economy, effectively hedging against the impact of unilateralism and trade protectionism.

Gu Qingyang, associate professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said that in the context of the world economic difficulties, RCEP injected strong growth momentum into emerging markets. The latest report of the Asian Development Bank raised the forecast of economic growth in Southeast Asia from 5.1% to 5.5% in 2022, reflecting to some extent the expectation of RCEP to stimulate the economy of ASEAN countries.

Peter Drisdale, director of the East Asia Economic Research Institute of the Australian National University, said that in the first year of its entry into force, RCEP has shown the importance of filling the gap in free trade agreements, boosting regional trade and strengthening regional supply chains, and has the potential to project the dividends of Asian trade to the world as a platform.

Cambodia's Assistant Prime Minister Gao Jinhua said that RCEP is a victory of free trade and multilateralism. Through joint efforts, RCEP has become the world's largest free trade area shared by all, and all member countries will benefit from RCEP cooperation.

Zhang Jinxiong, general chairman of the Indonesian Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said that RCEP integrates funds, resources, expertise and services to form a complete cycle and ecology of regional economic cooperation. In the uncertain world development pattern, RCEP provides stability and order, which can promote the sustainable development of the regional and even the world economy in the future.

Broad prospects for multilateral cooperation

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, in the first 11 months of this year, China's import and export to ASEAN increased by 15.5% year-on-year, higher than the overall growth rate of China's foreign trade. China remains ASEAN's largest trading partner, and ASEAN's position as China's largest trading partner has been further consolidated.

Observers believe that China has provided market space and industrial system support for RCEP to fully release its institutional dividend, and has made important contributions to promoting the prosperity and development of the Asia Pacific region.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister Song Sai said that RCEP is conducive to expanding the circulation of goods, funds and services, enhancing the resilience of the regional value chain, and making it better integrated into the construction process of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area.

Liu Ziyang believes that, for the two countries, RCEP is conducive to improving the level of trade liberalization between the two countries, promoting the deepening of cooperation in the third-party market, and will also promote cooperation between the two countries in science and technology innovation and service industries, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Under the framework of RCEP, China and ASEAN have broader common interests in sharing super large markets, further exerting complementary advantages, and rationally allocating production factors, and the prospect of industrial chain supply chain cooperation is also broader.

The Vice President of the China Japan Chamber of Commerce and the General Representative of Mitsubishi Commerce in East Asia, Yoshihiro Nakzuka, said that China, Japan and ASEAN could further play their respective advantages to achieve effective complementarity and integration. "Cooperation is promising", Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.