NEW DELHI, Jan 16 (Bernama) — Malaysia is hopeful that negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) can be concluded by year-end, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said.
“It is a crucial year for Malaysia as we hold the chairmanship of Asean in 2015 and our target is to conclude the RCEP negotiations,” he said.
However, there are challenges in achieving it as it involved 16 countries, he said.
“Having said that, we recognise there are challenges. Even bilateral negotiations sometimes take time to conclude and here we are negotiating with 16 countries of different level of economy development,” he said during a press conference here on Thursday.
RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA), which involves 10-member countries of Asean and six other nations namely Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
The negotiations for RCEP, which involves 3 billion people and a combined Gross...
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