OPENING REMARKS OF SECRETARY RAMON M. LOPEZ
THE PREPARATORY REGIONAL COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP
MINISTERIAL MEETING (PREP-RCEP TNC)

Fellow Ministers of ASEAN and our Dialogue Partners, we are gathered here today in preparation for the 1st Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Leaders’ Summit. But before anything else, it is my pleasure to welcome you all and your delegation once again to the Philippines.

For those of us who are tasked with providing guidance and vision in driving our respective economies forward in a constantly shifting global trade and economic landscape, we have our work cut out for us.

We have expressed our collective agreement to achieve a substantial conclusion to RCEP negotiations within the year. We emphasized this commitment during our meeting last September, and even expressed the hope that we will have something significant to report to our Leaders during the ASEAN Summit.

We have had 5 Ministerial level Meetings and 20 rounds of negotiations, with the most recent one hosted by Korea last month. We note the milestones and breakthroughs reached, especially those that yielded substantial outcomes like the conclusion of the Chapters on Economic and Technical Cooperation and the Small and Medium Enterprises.

We also welcome another encouraging development, which is that of Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation (CPTF) and Competition Chapters that are nearing completion.

Meanwhile, we are still in negotiations to reach substantive agreements on key elements of the RCEP, a task which we have been engaged in since 2012. At this point, let us extend our full support to our negotiating teams, allowing them more room to navigate on contentious issues toward achieving resolutions. Equally, efforts must be further intensified in making this possible.

This is the challenge now facing us: we should be able to provide a concrete and tangible roadmap that our Leaders can agree to and endorse, which will lay the foundations for a binding agreement.

RCEP is of tremendous importance for our economies and the region, and our efforts today can bring about greater progress and economic sustainability for the coming years.

We therefore look forward to having substantial and fruitful discussions, and even solidify our positions in the process. It is imperative for us to finalize the Ministers’ Collective FINAL 12 November 2017 Assessment Report to the Leaders and the Joint Statement of Leaders in negotiating the RCEP.

To conclude, we would like to say that our hosting of this year’s ASEAN would never have been successful without your efforts, collaboration, and cooperation.

With this, I declare the RCEP Ministerial Meeting open. Again, thank you and mabuhay tayong lahat.