The 28th meeting of the trade negotiating committee for RCEP in Da Nang. (Photo: CPV)
On September 23rd, under the hosting of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, the 28th meeting of the trade negotiating committee for the RCEP opened in Da Nang.
The event is being attended by leaders of the 16 RCEP countries.
This is the last official negotiation round this year, with the aim to handle the remaining issues and conclude the negotiation of the trade deal under the direction of leaders of the 16 RCEP countries.
RCEP is scheduled to establish the world’s largest free trade area, including 47.4% of the world’s population, 30% of the world’s GDP, 29.1% of the world’s trade value, and 32.5% of global investment flow.
In his speech at the meeting, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh hailed the efforts of the head of delegations and negotiators of 16 countries who have made remarkable progress in negotiations, especially from the start of 2019.
He emphasized that the negotiation is entering the final stage, requiring high determination and efforts by countries to find flexible and unified solutions to deal with outstanding issues to conclude the negotiation.
According to the Minister, the 28th session is particularly important to address technical problems before reporting to senior leaders later this year.
“As the host of the negotiation and the ASEAN Chair in 2020, Vietnam will try its best and coordinate with all countries to strive to achieve this goal, as well as towards the goal of signing RCEP agreement in 2020,” he said.
So far, negotiations on RCEP have completed many chapters such as economic cooperation, small and medium-sized enterprises, customs procedures and trade facilitation, government procurement, and others./.