Building RCEP region into a huge market

Higher cooperation: An employee directs a shipping container at Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia. The trade volume between China and Asean in 2023 increased by 4.9% compared with that in 2021, the year before the RCEP came into effect. — Bloomberg

IN the two years since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement came into effect, a new regional cooperation architecture featuring shared dividends and common development has taken preliminary shape.

Building the RCEP trade area into a big and high-level regional market will not only help boost regional and global economic growth, but also stabilise the global economy which faces increasing uncertainties.