Vietnamese Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh played host to the Eighth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting on August 27 in a bid to examine the possibility of a RCEP agreement later this year.

The Vietnamese side at the teleconferenced 8th
RCEP Ministerial Meeting on August 27 (Photo: VNA) 

Addressing the online event, Minister Anh expressed his great appreciation of the RCEP Agreement negotiators’ efforts since the beginning of the year, stating that relevant negotiations have been conducted on schedule, despite the prolonged outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Participating ministers noted the COVID-19 pandemic has brought up an array of challenges regarding the movement of trade and investment flows throughout the region, including countries participating in the negotiation of the key agreement.

Most notably, RCEP negotiators have remained committed to ensuring market accessibility for essential goods and services, in addition to striving to strengthen co-operation as part of an effective response to COVID-19.

The ministers also underlined the specific importance of the RCEP Agreement in the context of economic uncertainty caused by the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. They outlined that the signing of the RCEP agreement would serve to strengthen confidence among the local business community, consolidate the regional economy’s structure, and demonstrate regional support for an open, synchronous, and principles-based multilateral trading system.

The ministers therefore emphasised the role of the RCEP in relation to economic recovery following COVID-19, noting that the economic partnership could play an important role in bringing stable growth to both regional and global economies.

They therefore acknowledged progress made in RCEP negotiations and added their hopes that the agreement would be signed at the 14th RCEP Summit in November.

In particular, they re-affirmed that the RCEP negotiations remain open to India, saying this country engaged in negotiations since the launch in 2012, and it holds potential for contributing to common prosperity of the region.

The RCEP parties are made up of 10 ASEAN countries and their six partner countries, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India.