On November 15, 2020, the heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued a joint statement on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit. The Summit was held virtually on November 15, 2020, and the RCEP agreement was signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries.
The statement outlines the benefits of RCEP, saying that it “demonstrates our strong commitment to supporting economic recovery, inclusive development, job creation and strengthening regional supply chains as well as our support for an open, inclusive, rules-based trade and investment arrangement.”
RCEP is comprehensive and addresses a variety of topics including trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and trade remedies. It will enter into force after it has been ratified by at least six ASEAN and three non-ASEAN signatory countries.
The joint statement can be found here:
https://asean.org/joint-leaders-statement-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership-rcep-2/
ASEAN’s summary of the RCEP can be found here:
https://asean.org/storage/2020/11/Summary-of-the-RCEP-Agreement.pdf
The complete legal text of the RCEP can be found here:
