Friday marks the 4th anniversary of the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade pact in terms of population and trade volume.

Since its implementation, RCEP has delivered significant benefits, including tariff reductions and trade facilitation, enhancing regional supply chain stability and helping regional economies reach a new stage of high-quality development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press conference on Friday.

China is the largest economy in RCEP and has actively promoted its high-quality implementation. China’s imports and exports to other members of the pact reached 9.63 trillion yuan ($1.33 trillion) in the first three quarters of this year, marking a 4.5 percent year-on-year increase, Lin said. 

In 2023 China's non-financial direct investment in other RCEP members hit $18.06 billion, up 26 percent year-on-year, which is 14 percentage points higher than the global growth rate of China’s outbound investment, Lin added.

“We will continue to implement RCEP comprehensively and with high quality, drive regional economic and trade prosperity and deepen economic integration, and bring more tangible benefits to the people of the Asia-Pacific region," Lin said.


Global Times