Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

Part of: Prelims and GS-II International Relations

Context: Japan has still not given up hope that India might reconsider joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) from which it opted out in 2019.

Key takeaways 

• The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) among the China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand and 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
  • ASEAN members are: tBrunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• The 15 member countries account for about 30% of the world’s population (2.2 billion people) and 30% of global GDP ($29.7 trillion)
• It is the largest trade bloc in history. 
• Signed in November 2020, RCEP is the first FTA among the largest economies in Asia.
• It came into force in January 2022.

News Source: TH