RCEP injects new impetus into regional economic development

At the beginning of this year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) entered into force for Indonesia. So far, the number of members of the world's largest free trade agreement has increased to 14. Analysts believe that since the implementation of RCEP on January 1, 2022, it has significantly reduced the cost of goods trade among member countries, effectively promoted the deep integration of regional industrial chain supply chain value chain, significantly boosted confidence in regional economic recovery, and injected new impetus into regional and even global trade and investment growth.
Trade among member countries has increased significantly
RCEP covers all aspects of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. Its effective implementation has effectively promoted economic and trade cooperation and regional economic integration among member countries, and brought new opportunities for economic and financial cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
The machine is running at full speed and the production line is running at full power. In the production workshop of Haomai (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Haomai Company") located in the "Eastern Economic Corridor" of Thailand, workers are stepping up the production of auto tire molds sold to the world. Haomai's suppliers come from China, Japan, South Korea and other countries. Over the past year, the customs clearance efficiency of raw materials procurement has been significantly improved, and the company's international market sales profit has been growing.
Also benefiting from RCEP is Great Wall Motors Thailand Rayong factory. In the final assembly workshop of the factory, two Thai boys skillfully installed the engine for the car under the guidance of the mechanical arm (see photo, taken by our reporter Zhang Niansheng). "After the implementation of RCEP, the import of auto parts to Thailand will be more convenient, and the company's capacity and efficiency will continue to improve. We have more confidence in the future development," said Zhang Jiaming, president of Great Wall Motors ASEAN region.
According to Thai customs statistics, after the implementation of RCEP, 39000 Thai products have obtained tariff preferences, of which 29000 have achieved zero tariff. The customs clearance time of some fresh products has been shortened from 48 hours to 6 hours. Olamon, Director of the Trade Negotiation Department of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, said that the total value of imports and exports between Thailand and RCEP member countries exceeded 50% of Thailand's total foreign trade. The effective implementation of RCEP has a significant effect on boosting trade between Thailand and other member countries. In the field of investment, the market and consumer groups covered by RCEP are very large. "The huge market will attract more foreign investment for RCEP member countries".
According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia, in the first half of 2022, the country's exports to RCEP member countries reached 3.28 billion US dollars, an increase of nearly 10% over the same period last year. The Deputy State Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia Binsovich stressed that RCEP and the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement are important factors to promote Cambodia's export growth. "Benefiting from RCEP, we have more products entering other member countries and opened up larger markets. In the long run, these two free trade agreements will continue to provide support for Cambodia's economic growth."
Vietnam's aquatic products exports also rose sharply due to RCEP. At present, Vietnam exports aquatic products to more than 160 markets in the world, of which the exports to RCEP member countries account for more than 63% of the total exports. In the first 10 months of 2022, Vietnam's exports of aquatic products reached US $9.5 billion, up 34% year on year. Nguyen Hung Yen, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, said that the implementation of the relevant rules of RCEP and other preferential measures would promote the diversification and optimization of the raw material supply of Vietnamese enterprises, help to improve productivity, product quality and competitiveness, expand new supply chains, and promote international trade and economic growth.
Gu Qingyang, associate professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said that the RCEP member countries have strong industrial complementarity characteristics. The rules of origin accumulation determined by the RCEP make the relevant industrial layout more flexible to comply with the principle of efficiency, which will effectively promote the integration of the industrial chain supply chain between the member countries. The growth of direct investment among RCEP member countries reflects the growing momentum of the integration of the industrial chain in the region, which also has a strong attraction for economies outside the region and is attracting more and more global investment.
Continuous release of preferential dividends
On March 18 last year, RCEP officially entered into force for Malaysia. On the same day, Beijing Futian International Trade Co., Ltd. became the first enterprise in Beijing to enjoy Malaysian tax preferences under the RCEP framework. It exported 24 trucks from Malaysia. The tariff rate was reduced from 30% to 5%. The average tax reduction for each truck was about 40000 yuan, and the export competitiveness increased significantly.
As an important participant in regional economic cooperation, China implements RCEP with high quality. The Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on the High-Quality Implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and organized a series of special training on RCEP; Local customs constantly optimize the certificate of origin visa mode and supervision process; The State Administration of Market Supervision has established fixed and standardized information exchange channels with several member countries of RCEP... China has worked with all parties to promote regional economic integration and constantly shape new advantages in cooperation and competition. According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs of China, the total import and export volume of China and RCEP trading partners will reach 12.95 trillion yuan in 2022, up 7.5% year-on-year, accounting for 30.8% of China's total foreign trade.
Alan Greenspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said that under the circumstances of declining global openness, rising trade costs and bottlenecks in the supply chain, RCEP has made positive contributions to the development of the world economy. China is playing an increasingly important role in promoting global open cooperation and safeguarding the multilateral trading system.
The Ministry of Commerce of China said that it would take RCEP as a new starting point, sign free trade agreements with more trading partners, and expand the network of high-standard free trade zones facing the world; We will further improve the level of openness of trade in goods, trade in services and investment markets, actively participate in the negotiation of new rules and issues such as the digital economy and environmental protection, steadily expand the institutional openness of rules, regulations, management and standards, and better serve to build a new development pattern and promote high-quality development.
"China plays an important role in RCEP and is also the main export destination of other RCEP member countries. The stronger growth of China's economy will bring broader development space to RCEP in the future," Gu Qingyang said.
Assisting regional economic recovery
In 2022, China's import and export growth rate to other member countries of RCEP will exceed double digits, including Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. Analysts pointed out that RCEP has realized the coordination of intra-regional economic and trade rules, accelerated the integration of regional industrial chain supply chain, provided assistance for China and ASEAN to further deepen economic and trade relations, and also provided strong momentum for regional economic development.
"Golden pillow durian is very popular in China, and it is also the main variety we grow." Chava, who runs the durian garden in Rayong, Thailand, said that since 2022, the time and cost of Thai enterprises exporting agricultural products to China have been greatly reduced. From the fruit train to the "Durian Express", and then to the export of cassava, rice, rubber, etc., the trade between Thailand and China has continued to grow. "We will expand the planting area of durian and sell more high-quality and cheap Thai fruits to the Chinese market." Chawa is full of hope for the future.
Hu Yishan, chief consultant of the Pacific Research Center in Malaysia, said that for Southeast Asian countries, RCEP has played an important role in further eliminating intraregional trade barriers.
According to the analysis of Vietnamese media, the effective implementation of RCEP has established a binding legal framework for ASEAN in the fields of trade, investment, intellectual property and e-commerce, and created a more fair competitive environment.
Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pansosa said that in the context of rising global uncertainty, the rise of protectionism and other factors had a negative impact on the global economy. RCEP not only promotes the recovery of regional economic and trade growth, but also provides space for strengthening policy cooperation among relevant participants.
Zhang Jinxiong, general chairman of the Indonesian Chinese Chamber of Commerce, believes that RCEP integrates funds, resources, professional technology and services to form a complete regional economic cooperation cycle. At present, the momentum of global economic growth is insufficient. The implementation of RCEP provides stability and order for promoting economic and trade development, and will promote the sustainable development of regional economy.
In an interview with our reporter, former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and President of the Thai-China Friendship Association, Gon Taparangsi, said that the entry into force of the RCEP is conducive to promoting investment facilitation and driving the development of relevant industries in countries in the region, and more enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, benefit from it, which has effectively promoted the economic development of Thailand and other ASEAN countries. "The further implementation of the rules of RCEP will have more obvious positive effects and help the Asia-Pacific economic integration process to move forward."