Singapore was the first country to ratify the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the free trade agreement that includes the 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea.
After a decade of negotiations, the RCEP was signed in November 2020 and ratified in January 2022. Data from the World Bank estimates that the agreement would cover 30 percent of the world’s population, approximately 30 percent of global GDP (US$25.8 trillion), approximately US$ 12.7 trillion (25 percent) of global trade, and 31 percent of global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.
Through the RCEP, ASEAN hopes to transform from a net importer to a net exporter of goods and services and become the new engine of growth in Asia.
For Singapore, the country…
