2023 will be the first anniversary of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) coming into force. On June 2, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) officially entered into force for the Philippines, marking the full entry into force of the RCEP for 10 ASEAN members and 15 signatories including Australia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand. The full entry into force of the RCEP fully demonstrates the 15 parties' determination and actions to support an open, free, fair, inclusive and rules-based multilateral trading regime. It will inject strong impetus to regional economic integration, enhance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation in East Asia, and contribute to long-term and stable economic development in the region and the world at large.

China will continue to promote the high-quality implementation of the RCEP, provide guidance and services for local governments, industries and enterprises to further implement and make good use of the agreement, ensure the continuous release of the benefits of the agreement, and fully leverage the positive role of the RCEP in promoting cooperation on industrial and supply chains, high-level opening-up and high-quality development. At the same time, we will work with other parties to fulfill our obligations under the agreement, strengthen the RCEP mechanism building, improve the overall implementation of the agreement, and provide a strong guarantee for the steady and long-term progress of the RCEP cooperation.

According to the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, by 2035, RCEP will drive the region's real GDP, export and import growth by 0.86 percent, 18.30 percent and 9.63 percent, respectively, compared with the baseline scenario. The cumulative increase in exports and imports will reach US $857.1 billion and US $983.7 billion, respectively. Editor/Xu Shengpeng