RCEP will usher in an 'Asia era'

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement will come into effect on Jan 1, 2022, since six member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations including Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and four non-ASEAN member countries, China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, have ratified it.

Covering nearly a third of the world's population and accounting for about 30 percent of GDP, the new free trade bloc will be bigger than both the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the European Union, and is likely to become the most influential free trade zone in the world.

More importantly, this free trade zone will become the most diversified economic bloc with its member states being in different stages of development, following different political systems, and having diverse social structures.