(Yicai Global) May 18 -- Economic and trade ministers of the countries involved in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership hope to formally sign the trade agreement by the end of this year, China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said today.

China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have agreed terms and are currently reviewing legal texts on the agreement, Wang said at a press briefing. Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing also said on May 3 he also expected the countries to put pen to paper in 2020.

The 15 countries are also willing to accept India’s return to the RCEP after it withdrew from the deal in November 2019, saying it needed to protect its domestic industries before closing negotiations. The RCEP chairman invited India to re-join the agreement not long ago, Wang added.

Negotiations for the partnership began in 2012 and the nations had all but finalized talks before India pulled out.

The review of the RCEP legal text is 80 percent done and should be complete by the end of June, Wang said, adding that the ASEAN played a central role in negotiations and that China supports the association’s central role in the partnership. He hopes leaders from each of the nations will meet again this year to sign the deal and that this will help boost trade and investment coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Editor: James Boynton