News Story: Chile looking for boosting commercial openness in TPP meeting

SANTIAGO, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz, said on Sunday that Chile hoped to send a message of maintaining a pluralistic approach to free trade in the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Chile meeting.

Munoz said in an interview with local newspaper El Mercurio that nowadays numerous initiatives were being carried out, such as the TPP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP), and the Free-Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific(FTAAP).

"We work with those who are ready for openness and integration," Munoz explained.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: APEC officials discuss possible free trade area for Asia-Pacific

Khanh Hoa (VNA) – Senior officials of APEC economies as well as experts and scholars have discussed the possibility of establishing a free trade area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) along with its potential impacts and difficulties facing the process.

The workshop on realising FTAAP was held in Nha Trang, the south central province of Khanh Hoa, on February 25 as part of activities of the APEC First Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1) and related meetings. 

The FTAAP was first mentioned in the statement of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meetings in Hanoi in 2006. Last year, APEC leaders released the Lima Declaration on FTAAP, which emphasized the role of APEC in proposing contents related to such a free trade area with a view to gradually realise the idea. 

Besides the workshop, meetings were held during the day by nine committees and working groups, namely the Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI), Economic Committee (EC), Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS), Oceans and Fisheries Working Groups (OFWG), Tourism Working Group (TWG), Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECSG), Alliance for Supply Chain Connectivity (A2C2), Competition Policy and Law Group (CPLG) and Market Access Group (MAG). 

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: Chinese FM calls for acceleration of RCEP talks

Hanoi, (VNA) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for accelerating negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to create the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). 

Beijing is open to any regional trade agreement that benefits regional economic integration and free trade, he was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying at a news conference after the fourth China-Australia Strategic and Diplomatic Dialogue in Canberra on February 7. 

According to Wang Yi, among regional and subregional cooperation mechanisms in Asia-Pacific, some are making good progress while others have lost momentum, but either the RCEP or TPP or any other regional arrangement isa possible path to the broader FTAAP.

He urged relevant sides to speed up talks on the RCEP to achieve the common goal of creating FTAAP.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: Chinese FM calls for expediting RCEP talks

CANBERRA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called for expediting the talks of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) for the construction of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

China is open to any regional trade arrangement conducive to regional economic integration and global free trade system, Wang told a press conference after the fourth round of China-Australia diplomatic and strategic dialogue.

As for various regional or sub-regional cooperation mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific, some are thriving while others are faltering, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), he said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Singapore vows to continue with regional economic integration

Hanoi (VNA) – Singapore will continue participating in other free trade initiatives, despite the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, said a spokesman of the Singaporean Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) on January 24.

The initiatives include the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the proposal for a Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

The spokesman noted that Singapore is committed to pursuing a rule-based trading system and greater regional integration.

The agreement the TPP parties negotiated is one pathway to stronger trade links that will promote growth and job creation in all member countries, he added.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Story: China committed to Asia-Pacific economic integration process - FM spokesperson

BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China said Tuesday that it was committed to the process of Asia-Pacific economic integration in a spirit of openness, inclusivity and transparency, despite the United States quitting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

"China will forge ahead with the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the construction of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) so as to add new impetus to regional and global economic development," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing.

U.S. President Donald Trump Monday signed a memorandum ordering withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The TPP, a free trade pact between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, was formally signed by ministers last February after more than five years of negotiation. China is not a member of the TPP.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Asia-Pacific countries gear up for RCEP negotiations

by Abu Hanifah

JAKARTA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Asia-Pacific countries are gathering in Indonesia for the 16th round of Regional Comprehensive Economy Partnership (RCEP) negotiation with eagerness shifting to the regional free-trade pact as the U.S. plans exit from Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Launched in November 2012, the RCEP talks involve 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and six dialogue partners-China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India - with an aim to facilitate expansion of regional trade and investment.

Indonesian Trade Minister Engartiasto Lukita said that the negotiation process among TPP members now becomes crucial following the uncertain fate of TPP and recent development in global trade after Britain's exit from the European Union.

"With such a condition, the RCEP becomes a hope. Huge anxieties on major changing in global trade regime have been circulated among several countries at present. It made them shift their aspirations to RCEP," the minister said on the sidelines of RCEP negotiation opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Japan caught in dilemma with TPP facing dead end, RCEP and FTAAP in focus

by Yan Lei

TOKYO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Japan has been pushing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement through the parliament, a desperate move to "save face" for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe but evokes criticism from the opposition camp.

Abe has told a special upper house committee that the ruling camp would stick to its plan to get the TPP ratified, despite the fact that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had made it clear that he would pull the United States out of the free trade pact on the first day in office.

Japan's ruling parties have decided to extend the current Diet session which is set to end on Nov. 30, partly aimed at ratifying the TPP pact as soon as possible and making Japan the first signatory to do it.

Renho Murata, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, however, blasted Abe's decision to speedily ratify the TPP, stressing the deliberations should be put off to a regular session of the National Diet early next year.

Japan has hoped to change Trump's stance on the TPP, especially after Abe's meeting with the businessman-turned politican on Nov. 17, as the Japanese prime minister said later that he had a "candid" discussion with Trump on a number of issues including trade policies.

Trump, however, "dealt a blow to Abe's foreign policy," according to local reports here, as he unveiled his first 100-day plan in office days later, which is topped by withdrawal from the TPP.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Free trade area in Asia-Pacific needs to go together with Belt and Road Initiative

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- To realize a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific region, it needs to go together with the Belt and Road Initiative as the mix can materialize more effective, integrated and inclusive trade bloc in the Pacific Rim, South Korean experts said.

The experts' analysis followed Chinese President Xi Jinping's address at the APEC CEO Summit in Lima, Peru last Saturday. Xi called on relevant sides to firmly pursue the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) as an institutional mechanism for ensuring an open economy in the region.

The FTAAP was initiated at the 2014 APEC summit in Beijing to unify the 21 Pacific Rim economies through trade liberalization. Once established, it will become the world's largest free trade zone, covering 57 percent of the global economy and nearly half of the world trade.

"The FTAAP is the most inclusive as it covers more countries than RCEP and TPP," Han Jae-jin, senior research fellow at the Hyundai Research Institute (HRO), said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The RCEP stands for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free trade pact involving the 10-member ASEAN and six other countries, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is facing the biggest challenge as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump picked the withdrawal from the trade deal, including the United States and Japan, as one of his policy priorities.

Read the full story at Xinhua