A ROBUST Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is crucial in a trading environment increasingly characterised by tensions between China and the US.
That was one of the views expressed at a panel session at the Australia-ASEAN Business Forum in Adelaide, attended by experts and business leaders from across the region.
RCEP is a regional free trade agreement that, according to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, “complements and builds upon Australia's existing free trade agreements with 14 other Indo-Pacific countries”.
Founding dean of the Cheung Kong Graduate School Business School in Beijing, Xiang Bing, said given the geopolitical tension between China and the United States, it was “virtually impossible for the WTO to come back”.
“That is a real shame. But accordingly, regional trading blocs are becoming important,” Professor Xiang said.
“It is so important for us to promote intra-RCEP investment,” he said, also noting the likely impact of artificial intelligence and the need for business to be “audacious, be brave and leverage [the] RCEP.”
President of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand, Siah Hwee Ang said nations needed to avoid the trap of erecting so-called “non-tariff barriers”.
“We are all recovering from the pandemic and some economies are still experiencing distress. A killer of free trade agreements is non-tariff barriers,” Professor Ang said.
“Nations have to ensure we don’t have too many NTBs which can make trade liberalisation impossible.
“If you are throwing up a lot of barriers then you are not liberalising anything.”
Panel chair Sok Siphana, a senior Cambodian diplomat, spoke of the contrasting nature of the economies of ASEAN and RCEP and the need for flexibility in order to facilitate trade.
Earlier, South Australia trade and investment minister Joe Szakacs noted strong commercial links with ASEAN, particularly as a market for copper and critical minerals.