Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Membership

Negotiating parties

• Ten members of ASEAN
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• Three additional East Asian members of ASEAN Plus Three
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• Two additional members of ASEAN Plus Six
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  Basic indicators of the 15 negotiating parties

Value

2019 Media Statement

History

• August 2011,

• During the 19th ASEAN Summit held 14–19 November 2011, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was introduced.

• The 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and Related Meetings were held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 25 August – 1 September 2012.
• Leaders at the 21st ASEAN Summit held 18–20 November 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia endorsed the framework of RCEP and announced the launch of their negotiations.

• The first round of RCEP negotiation was held on 9–13 May 2013 in Brunei
• The second round of RCEP negotiation was held on 23–27 September 2013 in Brisbane, Australia.

• The third round of RCEP negotiation was held on 20–24 January 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• The fourth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 31 March – 4 April 2014 in Nanning, China.
• The fifth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 21–27 June 2014 in Singapore.
• The sixth round of RCEP negotiation and related meetings was held on 1–5 December 2014 in New Delhi, India. The Indians held an outreach event with their business community to educate them on the goals of RCEP. The Japanese asked to set up a workshop on e-Commerce.

• The seventh round of RCEP negotiation was held on 9–13 February 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. An expert group on electronic commerce met during this round. The Asian Trade Centre submitted a proposal regarding an e-Commerce chapter and gave a presentation on the paper.
• The eighth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 5–13 June 2015 in Kyoto, Japan.
• The ninth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 3–7 August 2015 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
• The tenth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 12–16 October 2015 in Busan, South Korea. The meetings took place at BEXCO. This round included the first region wide stakeholder meeting which involved an informal meeting between government officials and business representatives over lunch followed by an afternoon seminar focused on what RCEP can do to help business operate in the e-Commerce space.

• The eleventh round of RCEP negotiation was held on 14–19 February 2016 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
• The twelfth round of negotiation of RCEP was held on 17–29 April 2016 in Perth, Australia.
• The thirteenth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 12–18 June 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand.
• The fourteenth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 15–18 August 2016 in Vietnam.
• The fifteenth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 11–22 October 2016 in Tianjin, China.
• The sixteenth round of negotiations of RCEP was held on 6–10 December 2016 in Tangerang, Indonesia.

• The seventeenth round of negotiations of RCEP was held in Kobe, from 27 February – 3 March 2017 in Kobe, Japan.
• The eighteenth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 8–12 May 2017 in Manila, Philippines.
• The nineteenth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 24–28 July 2017 in Hyderabad, India.
• The twentieth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 17–28 October 2017 in Incheon, Korea.
• The first RCEP summit was held on 14 Nov 2017 in Manila, Philippines.

• The twenty-first round of RCEP negotiation was held on 2–9 February 2018 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
• The twenty-second round of RCEP negotiation was held from 28 April – 8 May 2018 in Singapore.
• The twenty-third round of RCEP negotiation was held on 17–27 July 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand.
• August–October 2018, a series of ministerial meeting in Singapore and Auckland.
• The twenty-fourth round of RCEP negotiation was held on 18–27 October 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand.
• 14 November 2018, a leaders' summit in Singapore is scheduled.

• The twenty-five round of RCEP negotiations was held from February 19 to 28 in Bali, Indonesia from February.
• 2 March 2019, a ministerial meeting of RCEP trade ministers held in Cambodia. The ministers agreed to intensify engagement for the remainder of the year.
• Senior officials will hold inter-sessional meetings starting 24 May 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand to iron out issues pertaining to the goods and services sector.
• The twenty-sixth round of RCEP negotiations was held on 3 July 2019 in Melbourne, Australia.
• The twenty-seven round of RCEP negotiations was held on Zhengzhou, China from 22 to 31 July 2019.
• 2–3 August 2019, a ministerial meeting of RCEP trade ministers held in Beijing, China.
• 3rd RCEP summit is held once again on 31 October – 3 Nov 2019 in Thailand with 35th ASEAN summit on same day.
• The twenty-eight round of RCEP negotiations was held in Danang, Vietnam from September 19 to 27 2019.
• India opts out of RCEP on 4 November 2019 in ASEAN+3 summit, citing, according to its view, the adverse impact the deal would have on its citizens. In light of India's departure, Japan and the PRC called on India to rejoin the partnership.

• The twenty-nine round of RCEP negotiations was held from April 20 to 24 2020 as a video conference, due to the current situation regarding COVID-19 disease.
• On April 30, 2020, Joint Statement of the 29th RCEP Trade Committee Meeting was issued.
• The thirtith round of RCEP negotiations was held from May 15 to 20 2020 as a video conference, due to the current situation regarding COVID-19 disease.
• The tenth RCEP Inter-sessional Ministerial Meeting held in the form of a video conference on June 23. The officials reiterated their determination to sign the RCEP at the fourth RCEP Summit in November.
• The thirty-first round of RCEP negotiation was held on July 9 as a video conference, due to the current situation regarding COVID-19 disease.

  Criticism