RCEP will usher in an 'Asia era': Comment

JIN DING/CHINA DAILY

BEIJING (China Daily/Asia News Network): The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement will come into effect on Jan 1, 2022, since six member states of the Association of South-East 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 per cent 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.