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Economic ministers call for early conclusion of RCEP negotiation

Xinhua, August 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Economic and trade ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners urged here Friday o progress negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Ministers attending the fourth RCEP ministerial meeting stressed the importance of substantially pushing forward the RCEP negotiations in accordance with the Guiding Principles and Objectives for Negotiating the RCEP, so as to reach a high-quality agreement as early as possible.

Participating the talks, Chinese Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng said reaching the RCEP agreement would boost trade and investment between its members and inject new growth momentum to the world economy.

It also helps strengthen East Asia's role in the world economic landscape, he added.

Despite economic instabilities at the global level, economic ministers at the meeting noticed that the 16 RCEP member economies witnessed steady economic performances, with average GDP growth over 30 percent higher than the global level in recent years.

Ministers of the 16 nations reiterated the promise and objective of building a modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficia regional free trade pact, urging member economies to continue to participate in the negotiation actively and constructively.

China has been a firm supporter and promoter of RCEP, and it proposes to strive for an early conclusion of the RECP talks while taking care of the concerns of all its members, said Gao.

Putting forward a four-point proposal, Gao also voiced China's support to ASEAN's leading role in the negotiation, which should be pushed forward in a balanced manner.

Launched in 2012, the regional free trade pact involves the 10 ASEAN states, China, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In a joint statement in November last year, leaders of the RCEP states requested intensify efforts to achieve a mutually beneficially and high-quality agreement in 2016.

By far, 13 rounds of negotiations had been completed, while the 14th round is expected to be held on Aug.10-19 in Vietnam. Endit