Member countries of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free-trade framework are aiming to conclude the deal next year, not during the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit next week.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Junever M. Mahilum-West said leaders gathering at the final leg of this year’s Asean summit in Singapore will instead be calling for the “expeditious” conclusion of RCEP.
A second summit on RCEP will be held to look into the progress of the negotiations of the very important document.
“We were hoping that the RCEP would be concluded by the time of the Summit but it seems that we’ll have to wait a little bit longer. During the Summit, the leaders would express their commitment to conclude the negotiations because this is very important for the region, especially in view of the rising trade developments, tensions, unilateral actions, and we expect the leaders to call for the expeditious conclusion of the RCEP,” Mahilum-West said in a Palace briefing on Friday.
The RCEP is a multilateral trade agreement involving the 10-member states of Asean its trading partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
In 2016, RCEP negotiating countries comprised almost half of the wold’s population and about 30 percent of global GDP and over 25 percent of world exports.
She added the Asean summit will also be a good opportunity for the President and the 10 Asean leaders to look into the progress of ASEAN’s relations with the dialogue partners and the deepening cooperation with them.
Upon the invitation of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, President Duterte will be attending the Asean Summit which will be held from November 13 to 15 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center.
After which, Duterte will be heading to Papua New Guinea to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Corporation summit from November 17 to 18.
Other prominent world leaders are also expected to attend the Asean summit to seek closer relations with the regional bloc, such as US Vice President Mike Pence, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon Jae-In, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Priority areas to be discussed during the summit include infrastructure development; economic cooperation; development of micro, small, and medium enterprises; connectivity; non-traditional security issues like countering terrorism and violent extremism; illicit drugs; and trafficking in persons.
Other areas of cooperation include women and youth, disaster management, climate change; and people-to-people exchanges.
Given that the summit will be attended by major players in the region, leaders may also touch on the issues on the global economy, challenges to economic integration, rules-based multilateral trade system, Korean peninsula, South China Sea, and transnational and transboundary issues, such as terrorism, violent extremism, trafficking in persons, illicit drugs, climate change, and disaster management.
“We anticipate a number of outcome documents to be adopted, issued, and noted by the leaders at the ASEAN Summit and in the Plus One summits, the ASEAN Plus Three as well as the East Asia Summit,” she said.
At the closing of the summit, Singapore is also set to symbolically handover the chairmanship to Thailand.