A Vietnamese trade delegation has attended the fifth round of the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEF) negotiation in
Singapore.
The Vietnamese delegation joined all meetings held at the plenary and the 11 working groups and sub-working groups.
A bilateral meeting was held between the Vietnamese and Japanese delegations at the request of the Japanese side.
The
fifth round of the RCEP negotiation, held in Singapore from June 23 –
27, drew about 500 delegates from the 16 participating countries.
A
media statement by the Chair of the RCEP – Trade Negotiating Committee
(RCEP – TNC) noted that delegations continued their deliberations on
some key issues under negotiations, including trade in goods, trade in
services, investment, intellectual property, competition, economic and
technical cooperation, and legal issues.
According to the
statement, on trade in goods, further convergence was reached on key
issues such as modality for the tariff negotiations, non-tariff
measures, Standard, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment
Procedures (STRACAP), Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) measures,
customs procedures and trade facilitation (CPTF), and Rules of Origin
(ROO).
On trade in services, work has also advanced in building
understanding and finding possible way forward on some key issues such
as the structure and elements of the Services Chapter, scheduling of
commitments, and the draft text of services agreement. On investment,
negotiators have also made progress especially with regard to the
approach to the scheduling of commitments and possible elements for the
Chapter on Investment.
The delegates also discussed the
preparation for the 2nd RCEP Trade Ministerial Meeting which is
scheduled for August 27 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The ministers will
assess progress of the negotiation after five rounds and provide
guidance to the TNC to meet the target date of end-2015 for the
completion of the negotiation.
The 6th RCEP negotiation round is scheduled for December 1-5 in India./.
The
RCEP countries include the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) members and six partners, namely Japan, China, the Republic of
Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand.-VNA