Entrance to the conference and exhibition center in Nanning during the China-ASEAN Expo held in September, 2022. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

Edited by LIN Yuchen

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the largest free trade agreement among the Asia-Pacific nations, is boosting trade and investment through reduced tariffs, adding momentum to cooperation among its member nations.

A recent example of this refers to the pact's entry into force for Indonesia on January 2. The favorable tariffs can now be used by the private sectors under RCEP when importing to or exporting from Indonesia, according to ASEAN.

RCEP would boost trade and direct investment and is expected to increase the country's GDP by 0.07 percent, said Zulkifli Hasan, minister of trade of Indonesia, adding that "We describe this agreement as a tollway to enter the global market, and it is time for Indonesia to storm the international markets."

From January to November 2022, China's trade with other RCEP members amounted to 11.8 trillion RMB, up 7.9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 30.7 percent of the country's total foreign trade volumes.

The export tariff of automobile manufacturer FOTON to Malaysia, for example, has been reduced from 30 percent to 5 percent from March 2022. From January to November 2022, the company exported 13,162 vehicles to RCEP member countries, with the reduced tariff expected to reach 22.15 million RMB.

Under RCEP, Southeast Asian agricultural products have now easier access to China.

In 2022, the Guangzhou Baiyun Airport customs alone recorded over 440 million RMB of imported fruits from RCEP nations, a 12.2-fold jump year-on-year.

"We are no longer worried about export orders as before. The industrial chain adjustment brought about by RCEP has boosted our product sales in the Chinese market," said Narongsak Chuensuchon, chairman of a Thailand company NC Coconut.

It is expected that more than 90 percent of trade in goods within the RCEP nations will be gradually tariff-free in the future.