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Bloomberg
As a monster Asian trade pact enters its next round of deliberations this weekend, Deborah Elms is upbeat about its prospects for completion this year — though perhaps without all 16 members.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership — which includes all 10 Southeast Asian economies plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand — could be finalised in 2019, though likely with only a “subset†of the negotiating economies, Elms, executive director of the Asian Trade Centre, said at an event in Singapore on trade.
“Now I think we are actually within striking distance†of completing RCEP, she said, noting that rules of origin and e-commerce regulations are among unfinished business.