On the last day of the 37th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit on Sunday, it finally happened: one of the world's largest free trade agreements was signed. Its full name is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). It took almost 10 years to negotiate the deal, which involves the 10 members of Asean, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. If one looks at the constellation of these countries, the deal is considered close to being a landmark achievement, as both Japan and China are part of it, giving a political dimension. The economic dimension of it, of course, is even bigger, but this does not mean investors must sell everything out and invest in RCEP countries. Any way, the RCEP’s importante will grow over time.

Japan and China agreeing to the free trade agreement may be because that deal is built on the existing one struck by Asean members. The original Asean agreement was impractical because the individual member-states had independent bilateral agreements within certain areas.

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