Southeast Asian-centred trade deal set for further delays
SINGAPORE — Leaders of Southeast Asian nations have pushed back yet again an agreement on a pan-Asian free trade deal amid a whirlwind of diplomacy Wednesday at their annual summit.
In convening talks among the leaders of countries participating in the plan, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said a final agreement on the deal, which is expected to encompass nearly half the world’s population and 40 per cent of world trade, will be pushed back until 2019.
Lee’s comments confirmed earlier expectations that the 16 countries in the plan, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, would not meet their goal of finalizing the accord this year.
The trade talks followed scores of bilateral meetings among the leaders and talks on other issues such as regional security, how to keep peace in the South China Sea and the crisis over hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar to escape violence.