16 Economies to Kick Off Asian FTA Negotiations on Thurs.

Tokyo, May 7 (Jiji Press)--Sixteen economies in Asia and Oceania are set to hold their first meeting in Brunei Thursday on the establishment of a regional free trade agreement. At the five-day negotiations, Japan, the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand will begin discussing reductions or the abolishment of tariffs and other barriers to expand trade and investment in the region, aiming to conclude talks by the end of 2015. If realized, the area covered by the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or the RCEP, will have a population of some 3.4 billion, which is around half the global population. The combined nominal gross domestic product of the area is projected to be 20 trillion dollars, which is around 30 pct of the world's GDP. This means the size of the RCEP would be equivalent to that of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade framework, now under negotiation. At the first round of the talks, the member countries are scheduled to set up working teams under the three categories of trade, services and investment. But Japan plans to call for an early establishment of working groups in other negotiation areas, informed sources said, pointing out ways to protect intellectual properties, establish a level playing field between the member economies and resolve trade disputes are also on the agenda. In parallel with the RCEP talks, Japan will proceed with the TPP talks and negotiations on a trilateral free trade agreement with China and South Korea. By leveraging its achievements in the TPP and three-way FTA talks, Japan hopes to strike a RCEP pact for high-level trade liberalization that will scrap investment restrictions and tariffs on such industrial products as automobiles, the sources said. END