Thai Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit will represent Thailand to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by the middle of this month, said the Bangkok Post on November 7.

According to schedule, the RCEP Summit will be held on November 15 as part of a series of regular summit meetings online to be hosted by Vietnam, as ASEAN Chair, from November 12-15.

The RCEP is a free-trade agreement (FTA) proposed by 10 ASEAN member states and six dialogue partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Negotiations on RCEP started in late 2012 at the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh.

A statement from RCEP said the 15 participating countries have concluded text-based negotiations for all 20 chapters and market access issues. With or without India, the RCEP agreement has been scheduled for official signing this year, coming into force either in 2021 or January 2022.

In 2019, the population of RCEP members topped 3.6 billion, with a combined GDP worth more than US$28.5 trillion, making up 32.7% of the world's GDP. The trade volume of members was US$11.2 trillion or 29.5% of world trade.