SINGAPORE -- The 16 countries participating in negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreed at a ministerial meeting in Singapore on Saturday to make all possible efforts to conclude talks by the end of this year.
The participating countries, which include Japan, China, South Korea and the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, "agreed to work together to overcome any difficulty or challenge as the RCEP negotiations enter into the last mile," the ministers said in a joint media statement. However, the latest talks failed to yield new agreements on any topics of negotiation.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko nevertheless stressed his belief that the talks yielded major progress toward a substantial agreement by the year-end, saying negotiations "have entered the final stage" at a press conference after the meeting.
The RCEP talks have stalled over such issues as the extent of tariff reductions and rules on trade and investment. Referring to these issues, Seko said, "Each nation held thorough discussions, and the gaps [between nations] have substantially narrowed."
Tokyo hopes that a substantial agreement will be announced at a summit meeting in November in Singapore, following final discussions at working-level talks in New Zealand later this month and other meetings.
During the talks, which started in 2013, some nations such as Japan and Australia have called for relatively high levels of liberalization, while other nations including India and China have resisted such demands over concerns about the impact on their domestic industries.
Agreements have been reached on only four of the 18 areas of discussion, partly as a result of the differences in economic development among participant countries.
At the last ministerial meeting in August, the countries nevertheless agreed on the importance of promoting a multilateral free-trade system in light of U.S.-China trade frictions and a broader trend toward protectionism. The countries also adopted a "Package of Year-End Deliverables" -- a set of targets to be achieved by the end of the year
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
