ASEAN, Partners Eye 'Substantial' Free Trade Progress By The Year End

Trade & Policy

ASEAN, Partners Eye 'Substantial' Free Trade Progress By The Year End

Southeast Asian economic ministers hope to reach a "substantial conclusion" of talks for a China-backed free trade deal by the end of the year, a Filipino official said at the end of talks in the Philippines capital.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries and their dialogue partners, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan will submit their offers by the third week of September based on "key clear parameters" identified in Manila, said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

China is pushing for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or RCEP as the US pursues a more inward policy. "Not really the draft agreement, but an agreement on the broad parameters of what will be the content, the level of liberalisation, the timing, percentage of the conclusion, the value added," Lopez said when asked about the year end target.

The RCEP offers will be discussed in a separate meeting in South Korea in October, ahead of an ASEAN leaders' summit in Manila in November, Lopez said. He said negotiations involving the 10 ASEAN member-states and 6 other free trade partners "is not an easy task." The regional bloc insisted that the deal would be "ASEAN-led." ASEAN deputy secretary general for the economic community Lim Hong Hin stressed the importance of free trade in the face of rising anti-globalism sentiment. "All things will be accommodated if we want to move forward, if we want to come to a swift conclusion," Lim said.

ASEAN to sign Hong Kong free trade deal

ASEAN is to sign a free-trade agreement with Hong Kong in November, a Philippine government official said, following three years of talks. The Chinese special administrative region began free-trade negotiations with ASEAN in 2014, four years after the 10-nation economic bloc signed a similar trade deal with China in 2010.

Hong Kong also completed negotiations on an investment pact with ASEAN, said Philippine Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo. "This would send a positive signal for the international community of ASEAN's resolute commitment to free trade and open markets," Rodolfo told reporters. ASEAN, an economic bloc with a combined population of more than 600 million, is Hong Kong's second-largest trading partner after mainland China, according to the territory's Trade and Industry Department website. Hong Kong also acts as an important entrepot for trade between mainland China and ASEAN, an economic grouping made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

It has remained a separate customs entity from mainland China since the city's 1997 handover by Britain. ASEAN members have established a free-trade area among themselves aiming to slash tariffs on most goods to zero and minimise non-tariff barriers. They have also signed free-trade deals with key trading partners such as Japan and China. Rodolfo said the Hong Kong deals are to be signed in November, when the Philippines hosts an ASEAN summit.