'World's Largest FTA' RCEP Signed... President Moon Warns Against Protectionism

President Moon Jae-in [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] President Moon Jae-in on the 15th gave the final signature to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade agreement (FTA) and the first mega FTA involving South Korea.

In his remarks at the 4th RCEP Summit held via video conference that day, President Moon said, "Despite the global crisis caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), launching a massive economic community sends a warning against protectionism and conveys the importance of free trade to the world," adding, "Through RCEP, let us lower trade barriers, harmonize standards, promote mutual exchange and cooperation, and overcome the COVID crisis together."

He further stated, "Through RCEP, let us lower trade barriers, harmonize standards, promote mutual exchange and cooperation, and overcome the COVID crisis together," and added, "Let us respect each other's diversity and seek a path of coexistence to develop together beyond trade and investment into cooperation across social and cultural fields."

RCEP is a multilateral FTA involving 15 countries, including the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the participating countries amounts to $26.3 trillion, accounting for 30% of the world's total, with a population of 2.26 billion, also 30% of the global population. The trade volume reaches $5.4 trillion, representing 28.7% of global trade.

After eight years of negotiations, the RCEP agreement was finalized this year and is expected to provide new growth opportunities for domestic companies. Additionally, it is anticipated to accelerate the government's New Southern Policy by expanding exchanges and cooperation centered on the 10 ASEAN countries.

Through the joint statement adopted at this summit, member countries welcomed the signing of the RCEP agreement despite the unprecedented COVID crisis, confirming that it holds great significance not only for overcoming the COVID crisis through job creation and supply chain enhancement within the region but also for establishing an open, inclusive, and rules-based trade and investment system.

In particular, the leaders stated in the joint declaration, "Considering the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economies and people's livelihoods, the signing of the RCEP agreement demonstrates our support for an open, inclusive, and rules-based trade and investment agreement, as well as our strong commitment to economic recovery, inclusive development, job creation, and strengthening regional supply chains," adding, "We recognize that the RCEP agreement is crucial to our region's response to COVID and will play an important role in building regional resilience through an inclusive and sustainable economic recovery process."

They also reached a consensus to expedite domestic procedures such as ratification to enable the early implementation of RCEP.

Regarding India, which did not participate in this signing, the statement noted, "RCEP remains open to India," and attached a ministerial declaration on India's future participation in the agreement to the joint statement.

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