The 13th RCEP Trade Negotiations Committee meeting began in Auckland yesterday and concludes on Saturday.

Ronnarong Poonpipat, deputy head of Thailand’s Trade Negotiations Department, said Asean states shared the view that the regional group needs to demonstrate its leadership by speeding up the talks so that the draft agreement could be proposed to the leaders of RCEP’s 16 member countries when they meet in September this year.

“It is a crucial for RCEP nations to conclude the negotiations within this year. Asean as a key member of the grouping, has agreed to help wrap up the talks soon,” he said.

Ronnarong said officials should wrap up all discussion issues and point out whether each topic could be finalised or not, as each issue has been discussed over many rounds of talks.

Discussion issues include the liberalisation of trade in goods, services, and investment; |intellectual property right laws; rules of origin; customs procedure; trade facilitation; sanitary and psyto-sanitary standards; technical barriers; electronic commerce; finance; telecommunication; and economic cooperation.

Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn had earlier emphasised during the recent Asean Economic Ministers’ Retreat in Chiang Mai that they would like to see the RCEP agreement finalised this year to ensure that Asean is the centre of trading and the key to drive the negotiations.

Previously, RCEP countries had agreed to reduce tariff on 65 per cent of trade in goods – about 8,000-9,000 goods items – to zero immediately, while tariff on 20 per cent of trade in goods would be reduced to zero within 10 years after RCEP’s implementation.

Tariff on the remaining 15 per cent of trade in goods would be negotiated in the future, as they are considered sensitive products for each country.

RCEP will also discuss whether they can cut tariffs for 100 per cent of trade in goods or reduce the items on the sensitive lists as much as possible, he said.