NAY PYI TAW, 23 November, 2020
Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Thaung Tun today attended the 10th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial Meeting via videoconference.
The meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr. Trần Tuấn Anh, Viet Nam’s Minister for Industry and Trade, and co-chaired by H.E. Ms. Myung Hee Yoo, Korea’s Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy. Economic Ministers from the 10 ASEAN Member States, 5 ASEAN FTA Partner countries -- Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand, and the ASEAN Secretary-General participated in the meeting.
The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to sign the RCEP Agreement in November 2020.
At the meeting, the RCEP Trade Negotiation Committee (TNC) Chair reported the progress of the RCEP negotiations. The Ministers took note of the report and tasked the TNC to expeditiously settle all outstanding issues.
The Union Minister reaffirmed Myanmar’s commitment to sign the RCEP Agreement in 2020 and expressed his thanks to the Trade Negotiation Committee for its efforts to achieve progress. He highlighted the importance of concluding of the RCEP in November this year particularly as the world is facing challenges due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy. He said that the signing of the RCEP would reflect the strong regional commitment to maintain the global rules-based multilateral trading system. He also encouraged all RCEP participating countries to show utmost flexibility to resolve the outstanding issues.
U Than Aung Kyaw, Director-General for Foreign Economic Relations Department and other senior officials supported the Union Minister’s participation in the meeting.
