Impacts of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on BRI

The aim of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is to create the world's largest free-trade zone in terms of trade volume or population, effective from January 1, 2022. It is a free trade agreement among fifteen countries (Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam).

The RCEP agreement simplifies customs clearance procedures between all member nations, in keeping with the fundamental principles of free trade. Overall, it will reduce delays, which will save costs and speed up turnaround times. In addition, to safeguard digital trade within the RCEP region, all countries have agreed to paperless trade, mutual recognition of digital signatures, and the establishment of multilateral digital protocols.