The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect on January 1 this year, and it has been more than 100 days since then. The positive effects it has brought are very obvious, bringing hope to the world economy facing multiple difficulties There is huge potential and intrinsic motivation for the development and trade liberalization.

　　Although the world economy has been affected by the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, unilateral sanctions, geopolitical turmoil and other unfavorable factors, in the first quarter of this year, the total import and export volume between China and ASEAN reached 1.35 trillion yuan, or 212.36 billion US dollars in US dollar statistics, a year-on-year increase of 10.7% .

S&P Global data shows that, driven by RCEP, the manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) of ASEAN countries in March this year was 51.7, maintaining an expansion trend, highlighting that with the official entry into force of RCEP, the new institutional dividend is further aligning China and China. ASEAN's economic and trade exchanges have also greatly benefited all parties.

　　Many research institutions are very optimistic about the prospect of RCEP.

The "2022 10+3 Regional Economic Outlook" released by the ASEAN and China-Japan-Korea (10+3) Macroeconomic Research Office in March believes that RCEP provides support for the regional supply chain and helps the region's economy recover from the epidemic.

The World Bank report believes that by 2035, RCEP can help all member countries expand the size of the middle-income group by 27 million.

According to the RCEP Economic Effect Estimate Report published by Japanese institutions, RCEP is expected to eventually increase Japan's GDP by 2.7%, and the economic effect exceeds that of all trade agreements it has signed so far.

　　RCEP accounts for about 30% of the global total in terms of population, economic volume, and total trade volume. The attitudes and actions of each member state on issues such as trade liberalization have an important impact on the direction of international trade.

The smooth operation of RCEP is conducive to boosting confidence in economic globalization and trade liberalization, and maintaining a rules-based international economic order.

　　In addition, the construction of the RCEP mechanism is relatively complete, with a secretariat and meetings at different levels, as well as joint committees and special committees.

Under the current geopolitical environment, the above structure will play an important role in building regional mutual trust, and all parties can place greater expectations on RCEP's greater role in the future.

　　Yuan Yong