The opening ceremony of the Seminar on Awareness and Exchanging Practices for the Implementation of the RCEP Agreement, which is a project to be implemented with the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Special Fund (2023), was held this morning at Horizon Lake View Resort in Nay Pyi Taw.

The opening ceremony was led by Dr. Kan Zaw, Union Minister of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, and attended by Dr. Wah Wah Maung, Deputy Minister, Mr. Zheng Zhihong, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, representatives from the Embassies of the Mekong-Lancang member countries, Vice-chair of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation National Coordination Unit (Myanmar) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, resource persons, senior officials from the 10 relevant ministries, representatives from the government agencies and private sectors of Mekong-Lancang member countries; Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The Union Minister delivered the opening address. In his address, the Union Minister highlighted that the RCEP Agreement is an open, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading system and will create new trade opportunities among Asian countries and accelerate the region’s economic recovery; Seminar on Awareness and Exchanging Practices for the Implementation of the RCEP Agreement aims to promote a deeper understanding and greater application of the RCEP Agreement; understanding the tariffs and rules of origin under the RCEP Agreement will get optimal benefits for preferential tariff treatment of the RCEP Agreement; and he encouraged the officers and private sector to implement and utilize the RCEP Agreement effectively and efficiently applying the knowledge and experience got from this seminar.

Continuously, Mr. Zheng Zhihong, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar also delivered the remarks. In his remarks, he highlighted that China is always promoting the high-quality implementation of RCEP; China plays an active role in regional trade, investment and promoting tariff reductions including market opening commitments; China's total imports and exports with the other 14 RCEP member countries reached RMB 12.6 trillion in 2023, 5.3% increase from 2021 before the agreement took effect; In 2023, China's trade volume with ASEAN member countries reached RMB 6.41 trillion.

In the welcoming remarks of Vice-chair of the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation National Coordination Unit (Myanmar) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he highlighted that this year marks the 8th Anniversary of MLC; Special Fund established in 2017 by the sole contribution of China to be used for all six member countries; as of now, over 780 projects have been being implemented in six member countries; Myanmar has received a total of 106 projects to date worth of over 31 million USD in various sectors from Agriculture down to the Human resource development.

At the Seminar, the resource persons from China, Thailand and Viet Nam will discuss Trade in Goods Chapter, Rules of Origin, Tariff Differentials and Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation of the RCEP Agreement with the aims of more facilitating in the implementation of the RCEP Agreement. Moreover, the readiness and challenges of the Implementation of the RCEP Agreement will be shared and exchanged at the seminar.

The seminar is being conducted in person at Nay Pyi Taw from 26 to 28 February, 2024 for three days by the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Special Fund. The 40 participants from Myanmar, 1 participant from China, 10 participants from Cambodia, 10 participants from Lao PDR, 9 participants from Thailand and 5 participants from Viet Nam, t၀tally 75 participants attend the seminar.

The RCEP Agreement is a world’s largest free trade agreement which was signed by the 10 ASEAN member countries, Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. RCEP includes chapters covering trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, and creates new rules for electronic commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, and small and medium sized enterprises.