EADN

The Research Institute Network (RIN) of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) welcomes and supports the decision of the Leaders at the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in November 2012 to launch negotiations to conclude a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

RCEP will provide a framework within which business can use the region’s resources to best effect in generating higher living standards and welfare for the region’s people.

Because of the prevailing uncertainties of the world economy and the threat of rising protectionist pressures in recent years, it is in the interests of both East Asia and the world as a whole that East Asia should be the engine of growth for the world economy. Immediate progress and timely conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), as endorsed by ASEAN Leaders at the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, 19 November 2012 is a major step in this direction, giving the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) an appropriate regional and global setting while also promoting living standards and welfare in the region itself.