China News Service, May 18, 18th, the State Council Office held a press conference. In response to India ’s withdrawal from the signing of the RCEP agreement, Wang Shouwen, deputy minister of commerce and deputy representative of international trade negotiations, responded at the meeting. Not long ago, 15 parties issued an invitation to return to India through the chairman of the RCEP trade negotiation committee. China welcomes India ’s ability to return to negotiations at an appropriate time.
At the meeting, a reporter asked: The global epidemic has had a huge impact on the world economy and international trade and investment. Will the epidemic have an impact on the signing of the RCEP agreement? How is the current negotiation progressing? What do you think of India's withdrawal from signing the agreement?
Wang Shouwen responded that in November last year, the third RCEP leaders' meeting was held. The meeting issued a leader's statement. The RCEP 15 countries have concluded negotiations on the text of the agreement and substantially concluded all market access negotiations, requiring all parties to legalize the text. Review so that an agreement can be signed in 2020. The statement also mentioned that India has some outstanding issues that need to be resolved, and all RCEP members will work together to resolve these outstanding issues in a mutually satisfying way.
Wang Shouwen said that the occurrence of the new crown epidemic this year has indeed affected the relevant negotiations and some conference organizations. However, RCEP members have perfected their work plans, and have just started to hold some face-to-face meetings, and now they have changed to video conferences, which has increased the frequency of video conference meetings. Now RCEP related negotiations and negotiations are still in progress. For example, for a small number of remaining issues, all parties are in Talk in full swing. The legal review of the text has now been completed by nearly 80%, and the goal is to be able to complete the legal review of the text by the end of June.
Wang Shouwen pointed out that in the RCEP negotiations, ASEAN played a central role, and China has always supported ASEAN's central position. It is also continuing to support ASEAN's central role, promote the text review and agreement signing of the year, and strive to sign the RCEP agreement when the leaders meet again during the year. In the context of the global epidemic, if the RCEP agreement is signed during the year, it will be of great significance to the region ’s response to the negative impact of the epidemic on trade and investment. More importantly, after the epidemic, the region ’s economy must achieve rapid and strong recovery. The signing of the RCEP agreement is of great significance.
In response to the Indian-related issues mentioned by reporters, Wang Shouwen responded that RCEP members conducted research on issues of concern to India in accordance with the requirements of last year's Leaders' Meeting and explored ways to address these issues in a mutually satisfying way. Not long ago, the 15 parties issued an invitation to return to India through the chairman of the RCEP Trade Negotiation Committee. In this regard, China welcomes India ’s return to negotiations at an appropriate time.