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Jakarta Post

With TPP dead in the water, progress urged on trade pact with China

Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, March 7, 2017

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With TPP dead in the water, progress urged on trade pact with China Protesters grouped under the Indonesian People's Coalition for Economic Justice demonstrate in front of Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday to express their opposition to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which they believe would pave the way for a freer market that will harm the country's economy and public welfare. (JP/Bimo Raharjo)

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egotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) need to speed up for it to replace the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that is on the brink of collapse, an analyst has said.

Under both of the regional trade agreements, countries aspired to create a free and open market, but with a different approach, said Achmad Shauki, a senior advisor for economic and public policy with the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Economic Governance (AIPEG) initiative in Jakarta on Monday.

TPP aimed to form a more open, wider and deeper trade agreement covering not only trade in goods and services, but also issues such as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), he added.

“Meanwhile, RCEP is less progressive, as it’s based on ASEAN centrality, even though the level of development among ASEAN members is not equal,” Achmad said.

(Read also: Indonesia moves away from TPP because of Trump triumph)

Negotiations on the RCEP, which is backed by China and involves six of ASEAN’s main trade partners without prior free trade deals – Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – is set to cover 30 percent of the world’s economy and a market of 3.4 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of US$21.4 trillion.

“We can expect RCEP to move closer or to converge with the spirit of TPP. Indonesia and other ASEAN countries should think about using RCEP for a more ambitious target, not only for the sake of RCEP itself, but for the sake of trade in the Asia-Pacific region,” Achmad added. (bbn)

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