The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) postponed negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership till next year during a recent summit in Singapore as the leaders failed to reach a consensus on issues like e-commerce, competition and investment, Ramon M Lopez, secretary of trade and industry in the Philippines, announced.
"We are determined to finish everything by next year," news agencies quoted Lopez as saying at the 33rd ASEAN Summit. Progress was, however, made on several other issues.The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) postponed negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership till next year during a recent summit in Singapore as the leaders failed to reach a consensus on issues like e-commerce, competition and investment, Ramon M Lopez, secretary of trade and industry in the Philippines, announced.#
The RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTAS) between ASEAN and six Asia-Pacific states—China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand—with which the bloc has bilateral FTAs.
India and Japan are among the countries with reservations about the pact. Sudhanshu Pandey, an official in Indian commerce ministry said that India had wanted to see more progress on services, which constitute more than half of the gross domestic product of most of the RCEP countries. (DS)
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