BEIJING, Nov 15 — The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is “a victory of multilateralism and free trade,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said today.
Li’s remarks came as he attended the fourth RCEP Summit, held via video link, reports Xinhua news agency.
“The signing of the RCEP is not only a landmark achievement of East Asian regional cooperation but also a victory of multilateralism and free trade,” Li said.
The RCEP agreement was signed Sunday among its 15 participating countries.
Participating countries include the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The 15 participating countries of the RCEP account for around 30 per cent of the global population, global gross domestic product and global trade.
The signing came after more than 30 rounds of negotiation, which was launched in November 2012, as well as a number of specific leaders and ministerial meetings between the participating countries.
The ongoing 37th Asean Summit and related summits take place from Thursday to Sunday (Nov 12-15) via video conferences.
Founded in 1967, Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Vietnam is the Asean chair for 2020. — Bernama
