Joint Press Release with the Ministry of Foreign AffairsAnnouncement of the Launch of Negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

1. On Tuesday, November 20, 2012 a ceremony to launch negotiations for the Regional comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was held in Phnom Penn, Cambodia. At the ceremony, the ASEAN countries and the FTA partners announced the launch of RCEP negotiations.
2. Mr. Yukio Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry attended the ceremony on behalf of Japan.
3. At the launch of negotiations, the leaders of each relevant country endorsed the "Guiding Principles and Objectives for Negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership." The key points of this document are as follows.
   1. Scope of negotiations
      RCEP will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement and other issues.
   2. Commitment levels
      The RCEP will have broader and deeper engagement with significant improvements over the existing ASEAN+1 FTAs, while recognizing the individual and diverse circumstances of the participating countries.
   3. Negotiations for trade in goods
      Negotiations should aim to achieve the high level of tariff liberalization, through building upon the existing liberalization levels between participating countries.
   4. Negotiations for trade in services
      The RCEP will be comprehensive, of high-quality and consistent with WTO rules and all service sectors will be subject to negotiations.
   5. Negotiations for investment
      Negotiations will cover the four pillars of promotion, protection, facilitation and liberalization.
   6. Negotiation schedule
      Negotiations will commence in early 2013 and aim to complete by end-2015.
   7. Participating countries
      Participants will be ASEAN members and FTA Partners. After the completion of the negotiations, countries other than the 16 states may join.

• Joint Declaration on the Launch of Negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(PDF:30KB)
• Guiding Principles and Objectives for Negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(PDF:32KB)

November 20, 2012

• Asia and Pacific Division, Trade Policy Bureau
• Economic Partnership Division, Trade Policy Bureau