Keidanren
(Japan Business Federation)
It is most welcome that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been signed with the cooperation among participating countries. I would like to extend my respect to the Japanese government and other relevant parties for their continuous and steadfast efforts to the negotiations for the RCEP since its commencement in 2012.
Many Japanese companies are engaged in business in the Asia-Pacific region. Keidanren believes that the RCEP will contribute to the expansion of trade and investment and to the formation of efficient and resilient supply chains, bringing further prosperity and stability to the region including neighboring countries of Japan.
We hope that the RCEP members will proceed with the ratification and effectuation of the agreement as soon as possible. We also hope that, they will continue in their efforts to have India join the agreement in the future, in order to further enhance the economic significance, such as free trade and investment, of the RCEP.
Today, with growing trade friction and the spread of the COVID-19, we are seeing an increasing tendency for individual countries and regions to turn inward and adopt stances of national particularism. Under such circumstances, the signature on this large-scale economic partnership has great significance for the realization of a free and open international economic order. Keidanren hopes that, through such multinational frameworks, the Japanese government will continue to exercise leadership in establishing a global system of free trade and investment.