RCEP officially comes into full effect

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement took effect on Friday for the Philippines, marking the RCEP agreement entering into effect for all 15 members, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The RCEP came into force on the first day of 2022 and is a mega free trade agreement involving Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is the world's largest free trade bloc covering about 30 percent of the world's population, as well as 30 percent of the world's economic and trade volume.

The ministry said that the full implementation of the RCEP pact will boost China's high-level opening-up to the world.

The ministry's head of international trade and economic affairs said that the RCEP will increase openness in services trade and investment, enhance trade facilitation, and improve the business environment.

The official said that promoting RCEP's high-quality implementation will help regional industrial and supply chains integrate and create new opportunities for international economic and trade cooperation for localities, industries and companies, as well as advance higher-level institutional opening-up from a higher starting point.

In another statement released on Friday, the Ministry of Commerce said that the full implementation of RCEP shows the commitment and actions of the 15 participating countries to support a multilateral trading system that is open, free, fair, inclusive and rules-based.

The statement said that the RCEP will boost regional economic integration and significantly improve the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation in East Asia. This will benefit the long-term stable development of the regional and global economy.