In the morning of August 8th, the fourth ministerial meeting of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was held in Vientiane, Laos. Sixteen ministers of the 16 sides including the ten countries of ASEAN, China, Australia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, etc attended the meeting. The Chinese delegation, led by the minister of commerce, Gao Hucheng attended the meeting.
In Minister Gao Hucheng’s speech, he stated that as long as the RCEP is achieved, the foreign trade and investment between members can be promoted, and it can bring vigor and new power to increase the global economy, strengthen the status and effect of east Asia in world economy. In order to achieve this goal, four advices were suggested by the Chinese side. Firstly, try to end the negotiation of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership as soon as possible; secondly, pay attention to what each country cares about; thirdly, the negotiation should be promoted without breaking the balance of the whole; fourthly, the Chinese side supports ASEAN to lead the negotiation. Gao HuCheng pointed out that the Chinese side is the firm supporter and promoter of RCEP, and China would like to cooperate with other countries, show its own efficiency and flexibility, try hard to achieve the compromise of mutual benefit and win-win result as soon as possible, and complete the missions given by the leaders.
In the next day, the ministries who attend the meeting will discuss cargos, services, investments and other specific questions in the core fields. They will offer suggestions to guide and promote the next stage of meeting. They will also implement the instruction of each country’s leader to end the negotiation as soon as possible, and achieve a modern, comprehensive, superior and mutual-beneficial Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
The negotiation of RCEP was proclaimed to be launched off by the leaders of the ten countries of ASEAN, China, Australia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand ’s leaders in November, 2012. Hopefully, this will be the free trade zone that is the most densely populated, the most expansive and the most active.
