The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement (RCEP) was signed on Sunday by 15 countries including China, Japan, Australia, Vietnam and South Korea, jointly covering a total population of more than 2.3 billion people – five times the size of the European Union.
“The agreement could help revive post-COVID economic growth, boost intra-regional trade and investment links at a time of global trade tensions, and provide a framework for further regional cooperation”, the report said.
Asia is already a major destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) and it has fared relatively well as an investment target during the global pandemic, but RCEP could give its members extra support and a stimulus as the pandemic subsides, the report said.
