RCEP an FTA with 'low ambition' but high potential

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement that entered its third year on Jan 1 is a significant rules-based trade and economic framework for the Asia-Pacific region.

Although the negotiations for the RCEP, which comprises the 10 ASEAN member states and five of ASEAN's trade partners (China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand), were concluded in November 2019, the agreement came into effect on Jan 1, 2022, because different members ratified the rules of the agreement at different times.

In its present form, the RCEP represents roughly one-third of the global population and world GDP, making it the largest free trade agreement in the world in terms of the number of people and markets that it covers.