On March 2, 2019, the 7th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting was held in Siem Reap, Cambodia. 16 economic and trade ministers or representatives from 10 ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India attended the meeting. Assistant Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang attended the meeting on behalf of Minister Zhong Shan. The Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the General Administration of Customs sent representatives to attend the meeting. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech.

The Ministerial Meeting reiterated the consensus of the 2nd RCEP Leaders Meeting on pushing the negotiations to conclude in 2019 and stated that it will spare no efforts to achieve this goal. The meeting welcomed the positive progress made by the Trade Negotiations Committee in market access and text negotiations, while recognizing that more progress needs further efforts from all parties. To this end, the meeting discussed and approved the 2019 work plan. The meeting also agreed that the 8th Ministerial Meeting will be held in Beijing in August.

During the meeting, Li Chenggang also held talks with the heads of delegations from Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia and the ASEAN Secretary General respectively.