Thai PM blasts ‘winds of protectionism’
Print Edition
THAILAND’S prime minister made an impassioned plea against protectionism yesterday at a meeting in Bangkok of Southeast Asian leaders where the US-China tariff war dominated talks amid mounting concern at the dark clouds over global growth.
Thailand, which is chairing the two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)this year, rallied against global protectionism and called for urgency in concluding talks on RCEP — a China-led trade pact, which once inked will be the world’s biggest.
“The winds of protectionism are hurting our multilateral trading system,” Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said yesterday. “ASEAN must hold our hands tightly in negotiating ... on the RCEP, so it is concluded this year. It will help off-set any impact from the ongoing trade conflict.”
The RCEP will help the ASEAN manage change and uncertainty in the region, especially as regards to the trade friction between “ASEAN’s important trading partners.”
He also described the RCEP as a tool to boost trade and economy in the region.
In the Chairman’s Statement of the 34th ASEAN Summit released yesterday, ASEAN leaders said they “reiterated our strong commitment to concluding the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations within 2019 to reinvigorate international trade and to maintain ASEAN credibility and centrality.”
They also urged the RCEP ministers and officials to redouble their efforts to reach this target and called for relevant ASEAN partners to prioritize the RCEP negotiations and to work with ASEAN to conclude the RCEP negotiations within this year.
The RCEP, a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) among the 10 ASEAN member states and six of their FTA partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, is expected to be one of the world’s largest trading blocs, accounting for 45 percent of the world population, 40 percent of global trade and around one-third of the world’s GDP. The talks on the RCEP was launched in 2012.
Yesterday, the leaders also adopted a “Bangkok Declaration” to combat maritime debris, including plastic waste, in one of the most-polluted waters in the world.
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