"Accelerating Preparations for RCEP Year-End Signing"... Yoo Myung-hee Attends Ministerial Meeting

2020 Korea-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting and RCEP Ministers' Meeting, etc.

Yoo Myung-hee, Chief Negotiator of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy./Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Yoo Myung-hee, the Chief Negotiator of Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, will attend the ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting held from the 27th to the 29th. Efforts to accelerate the signing of RCEP within this year are underway.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 26th that Chief Negotiator Yoo will attend the 8th RCEP Ministerial Meeting, the 17th Korea-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting, the 23rd ASEAN+3 Economic Ministers' Meeting, and the 8th East Asia Summit (EAS) over the three days.

Through these meetings, Chief Negotiator Yoo plans to review the negotiation status for the signing of RCEP within this year. Discussions will also focus on strengthening cooperation with ASEAN and East Asian countries to overcome the global economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

At the RCEP Ministerial Meeting, efforts will be intensified to prepare for the signing of RCEP within this year. The negotiation progress, advanced through more than ten video conferences this year, will be reviewed and remaining issues will be finalized as much as possible.

Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

At the Korea-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting, the progress of establishing the Korea-ASEAN Industrial Innovation Institution (AKIIC) and the Korea-ASEAN Standardization Joint Research Center (AKSRC) will be reviewed. Discussions will also cover the implementation of the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and further liberalization.

AKIIC is an organization responsible for overseeing joint research and development (R&D), technology transfer and commercialization, and technical guidance between Korea and ASEAN, aiming to promote expanded technological cooperation. AKSRC is an organization that collaborates on strengthening ASEAN standard capabilities and jointly developing standards for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Previously, Korea and ASEAN agreed to establish these two organizations during the Korea-ASEAN Special Summit held in November last year.

Additionally, a joint economic ministers' statement between Korea and ASEAN is expected to be adopted, which includes ensuring the movement of essential goods to maintain the Global Value Chain (GVC), promoting the movement of essential personnel, compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) norms, and maintaining the multilateral trading system.

This is to strengthen economic connectivity between Korea and ASEAN even amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the ASEAN+3 Economic Ministers' Meeting, progress on economic cooperation projects such as joint research on supply chain connectivity (SCC) at the ASEAN and Korea-China-Japan levels will be shared.

To mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19, the 'ASEAN+3 Action Plan (APT PoA)' is expected to be adopted. This is an action plan to concretize the 'ASEAN+3 Leaders' Joint Declaration' of April 14 and the 'ASEAN+3 Economic Ministers' Joint Statement' of June 4.

At the EAS Economic Ministers' Meeting, economic and trade ministers from 18 East Asian countries, including the 10 ASEAN member states, will freely exchange opinions on cooperation measures for global economic recovery after COVID-19, including the need for WTO reform.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.