-Doug Green, Publisher NZ Manufacturer – www.nzmanufacturer.co.nz

Editorial – November issue.

Important, I think, to make this Editorial about the RCEP Agreement which will open up more opportunities for New Zealand businesses.

New Zealand is a member of the world’s largest free-trade deal, representing 30% of GDP, which aims to boost imports and exports with lower tariffs across 15 Asia-Pacific countries.

This is a big deal and the largest free trade deal so far.

At the (virtual) ASEAN Summit, held Sunday last, ministers from 15 countries signed a mega-trade agreement after eight years of negotiations, which started in 2012.

Known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, once ratified, it will form the largest-ever regional free-trade bloc.

Countries who signed were China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and  members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The 15,000-page agreement outlines tariff reductions of about 90% on traded goods and services.

On top of goods and services, the agreement covers investment, economic and technical cooperation, new rules for e-commerce, intellectual property and more. When finalised, the  main benefits for businesses will be:

• One set of rules for accessing lower tariffs in any of the 15 RCEP markets;
• New trade opportunities in telecommunications, professional and financial services;
• Improved processes for tackling non-tariff barriers such as customs procedures;
• Greater investment certainty;
• New rules on e-commerce to make it easier for businesses to trade online;
• A common set of intellectual property rules; and
• A new rules of origin agreement to boost inputs in production chains.

These new measures are expected to come into effect once the majority of participating countries ratify the deal over the next two years.

As I said, this is a big deal.