The 25th RCEP-TNC and Related Meetings was held from 19-28 February 2019 in Bali, Indonesia. RCEP enters the sixth year of negotiation process, which is stated by leaders of 10 ASEAN countries and 06 ASEAN FTA Partners (Australia, China, India, New Zealand, Japan and Korea), to be concluded by 2019.
RCEP is a so-called mega-regional economic integration that covers half of the world's population, around 3.5 billion people, combines nearly 1/3 of global GDP and around 30% Global flows of foreign direct investment. This agreement aims to broaden and deepen the regional economic integration, to enhance economic development of the region, to promote economic cooperation, and to achieve a modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement among the ASEAN Member States and ASEAN’s FTA Partners.
In this round of negotiations, the meeting emphasized the progress of market access negotiations on trade in goods, trade in services and investment as well as text-based negotiations in each chapter, by defining clear indicator to be achieved and detailed workplan till the end of 2019, in order to announce substantial conclusion.
Currently, there are successful conclusion of 7 Chapters: (i) Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), (ii) Economic and Technical Cooperation (ECOTECH); (iii) Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation (CPTF); and (iv) Government Procurement; (v) Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures, (vi) Institutional Provision; and (vii) Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures (STRACAP).
