20th round of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations opens in Songdo

Posted on : 2017-10-29 13:05 KST Modified on : 2017-10-29 13:05 KST
RCEP is the only large scale FTA currently under discussion after collapse of Trans-Pacific Partnership
The 5th Ministerial Meeting of RCEP was held in Manila
The 5th Ministerial Meeting of RCEP was held in Manila

The 20th round of official negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – which involves 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including South Korea, China and Japan – will be held in Songdo, Incheon, from Oct. 24 to 28.

The 16 countries participating in the RCEP negotiations are South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and India, along with the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The negotiations seek to expand opening up and liberalization across the 16 participating countries beyond several bilateral FTAs that these countries have already signed.

With the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) basically stalled, RCEP is gaining attention as the only large-scale FTA for which negotiations are currently underway. This is the last official round of negotiations to be held this year, and more than 800 people are attending with the delegations of the participating countries.

“We must aim for a high level [of concessions on goods, services and investment] in order to bring RCEP to a quick and successful conclusion. We also need to look for a pragmatic solution that will take into account each nation’s specific characteristics,” said South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong during a keynote address during the opening ceremony on Oct. 24. Kim also asked all the participating delegations to “do their best to ensure that the Incheon round of negotiations are a turning point for reaching a real breakthrough on RCEP.”

The participating countries are expected to aim for “producing significant results” by seeking breakthroughs on the main points being disputed in regard to improving the level of concessions on goods, services and investment and the scope and criteria of market liberalization. The participating countries have already made progress on improving the trade rules for country of origin and in achieving further liberalization in the areas of goods and services during two rounds of submitting joint plans for tariff concessions.

South Korea, which is hosting the RCEP negotiations for the second time following a round in Busan in Oct. 2015, plans to serve as a “proactive mediator” in resolving disputes over concession plans between the various countries involved. Along with the negotiations themselves, this meeting will also feature a special session on multilateral trade rules that will be attended by the Chair of the WTO Ministerial Conference. The RCEP negotiations were launched in May 2013, and the actual negotiations about market approaches have been underway since the 10th round of negotiations, which were held in Busan in Oct. 2015.

 

By Cho Kye-wan, staff reporter

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