RCEP is a free trade agreement involving the 10 ASEAN member states of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as ASEAN’s five partner countries of China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Arsjad Rasjid, in his capacity as Chair of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) and Chair of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), emphasized the need for concrete actions to achieve global development.

"ASEAN is advocating for economic efficiency to support multilateral cooperation. We look forward to receiving inputs from CEOs regarding the challenges, and how we can contribute to ASEAN and RCEP," he said.

Arsjad explained that RCEP Roundtable Dialogue was an exclusive extension of the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS), saying that a total of 40 companies from 15 countries across ASEAN and its dialogue partner countries participated in the discussions, which aimed to explore ASEAN’s various potentials through RCEP.

He also noted that RCEP was a modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership that was built upon ASEAN's bilateral agreements with five free trade agreement (FTA) nations.

"Substantial actions are required to attain global development. With a shared vision of prosperity, we hope that ASEAN and RCEP can collectively achieve our goals to advance ASEAN," said Arsjad.

He also said RCEP played a crucial role as a strategic initiative in promoting the economic integration of ASEAN, which contributed one-third to global gross domestic product (GDP) and comprised one-third of the global population.

"As of now, RCEP's contribution accounts for only about 2 percent of the total trade activities of its member countries. RCEP holds significant potential to enhance trade flows in this region. This summit serves as a crucial moment to remind the relevant nations to unite in addressing diverse global challenges," said Arsjad.

Meanwhile, Kaushik Das, Managing Partner for Southeast Asia at McKinsey & Company, said it was now ASEAN's time to shine, as RCEP sent a strong signal of the region’s support for the multilateral trading system.

"RCEP will place ASEAN at the forefront of global economic recovery. It will incentivize businesses in this region to take significant actions that can create a sustainable and inclusive ecosystem," said Das.

Hosted by Khoon Tee Tan, McKinsey’s managing partner for Indonesia, the panel discussion featured the speakers: Tan Sri Mohamed Nazir bin Tun Abdul Razak, Member of the ASEAN-BAC and Chair & Founding Partner of Ikhlas Capital; George T. Barcelon, Chair of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry; and Anne Patricia Sutanto, Policy Manager of ASEAN-BAC Trade Facilitation and Chair of the Permanent Committee on International Agreements at KADIN.

The discussion delved into concrete steps toward achieving the RCEP objectives, elucidating the opportunities and challenges at hand as well as the strategic measures that could be taken to realize the RCEP vision.

The event culminated with the launch of the RCEP Joint Task Force to mobilize donations from industry leaders in RCEP member countries, with an aim to accelerating the RCEP vision and opening trade routes worth over US$100 billion annually by 2030.

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