ISDS Case Map
RCEP
Indonesia has called on ASEAN member countries to develop a unified position in negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia met in Sydney on 18 March to discuss the next steps for their Strategic Partnership, initiated in 2014, with regional trade agreements, digital trade, and sustainable urbanisation high on the agenda.
Just a week after signing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with nine other countries, Singapore and Australia vowed to “redouble” efforts to conclude an ambitious free-trade agreement among 16 Asia-Pacific countries this year.
The development comes after a meeting convened by the prime minister’s office saw growing opposition to RCEP FTA from the secretaries of various government departments
In a speech at the Malaysia Business Forum, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez revealed that the RCEP will have substantial documents ready before the end of Singapore’s chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. This was agreed upon by trade ministers of RCEP negotiating countries in their recent meeting in Singapore.
Following the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last week, Malaysia is now shifting its focus to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
Negotiations to establish a massive Asian trade pact appear to be going backwards with some now questioning whether New Zealand should pull out.
On March 8, trade representatives from eleven Pacific rim countries including Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Australia are expected to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The agreement has been slimmed down both in its content—22 items in the text have been suspended, including the bulk of the intellectual property chapter—and also in its membership, with the exclusion of the United States which had been the driver of those suspended provisions.
Ministers from 16 East Asian countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership made progress at a meeting in Singapore Saturday but many gaps remain.
With RCEP trade deal negotiations resuming in Singapore this week, Edward Miller says the Labour-led coalition will face an early test of its so-called "new approach on trade".
