(From L to R) Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte, Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo and Laos' Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith pose for a group photo during the 10th ASEAN-UN Summit in Bangkok on November 3, 2019, on the sidelines of the 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. (Photo by Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP)
BANGKOK: Meetings hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations resumed Sunday with doubts emerging on whether the weekend would see a breakthrough in talks on the world’s largest regional trade pact.
The China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been jeopardized by last-minute requests from India after it earlier agreed to terms. Leaders had planned to announce a preliminary deal on Monday, paving the way for countries to finalize details on the legal framework of an agreement that would cover one-third of the global economy, but the Philippines said Saturday that negotiations now wouldn’t be completed until February.
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