China News Service, Beijing, November 15 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) The "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" (RCEP) was officially signed on the 15th.

As the world's largest free trade zone, RCEP negotiations lasted for 8 years, which can be described as "good things go hard."

　　On November 20, 2012, during the East Asian Leaders’ Meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the leaders of the ten ASEAN countries and China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand jointly issued a joint statement to start the RCEP negotiations, officially launching this 1. The construction process of a free trade zone covering 16 countries.

The leaders of the countries pledged to reach a comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial regional free trade agreement through RCEP negotiations on the basis of existing economic ties.

　　On May 9, 2013, the first round of RCEP negotiations was held in Brunei.

China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India and 10 ASEAN countries all sent delegations to the meeting.

This round of negotiations formally established three working groups on trade in goods, trade in services and investment, and exchanged in-depth views on the work plans, scope of responsibilities, and possible future challenges of the three working groups.

　　In August 2015, during the third ministerial meeting of RCEP, a major breakthrough was made in the negotiation of market access for goods trade. All members reached an agreement on the initial bidding model, and substantial market access negotiations were about to begin.

　　In May 2017, the 16 member states of RCEP held the third ministerial-level meeting.

At this time, the two chapters of economic and technical cooperation and SMEs have concluded negotiations, and some chapters are about to conclude negotiations.

　　In November 2017, the first RCEP leaders meeting was held in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

The participating leaders issued a joint statement after the meeting, instructing the ministers and the negotiating team to step up their efforts to end the RCEP negotiations.

　　In August 2019, the RCEP Ministerial Conference was held in Beijing.

This meeting promoted important progress in the negotiations.

In terms of market access, more than two-thirds of bilateral market access negotiations have ended; in terms of rule negotiations, three new items including financial services, telecommunications services, and professional services have been completed. All parties have reached over 80% of the agreement text Consistent, the remaining rule negotiations are also nearing completion.

　　In November 2019, the third leadership meeting of RCEP was held.

At this time, after 27 rounds of negotiations, the 15 member states of RCEP except India have concluded the textual negotiations of all 20 chapters, as well as essentially all negotiations on market access issues.

The leaders of the meeting issued a joint statement instructing all parties to start the review of the legal text in order to sign the agreement in 2020.

The statement also stated that there are important issues in India that have not been resolved, and all RCEP member states will work together to resolve these outstanding issues in a mutually satisfactory manner.

　　In October 2020, the RCEP ministerial video conference was held.

The meeting affirmed the substantial progress made in the review of the legal text of the agreement and decided to make full preparations for the signing of the agreement within the year.

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