Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Chile and Bangladesh seeking to join RCEP trade bloc

Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Chile and Bangladesh are seeking to join the China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world's largest trade bloc, Southeast Asian officials said on Thursday. The RCEP currently consists of China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and all ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

RCEP officials, who are meeting on the sidelines of a gathering of ASEAN trade and economic ministers in Malaysia this week, said they had few objections to accepting new applicants and will work towards bringing the four economies into the bloc. "We are of course in support of any countries that are willing to join the RCEP," Indonesia's Vice Minister of Trade Dyah Roro Esti Widya Putri told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia's trade minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said any decision on new RCEP members will be discussed when the bloc's leaders meet for the first time in five years in October. Tengku Zafrul has previously said the RCEP would seek to upgrade a trade deal it signed in 2020 during the October summit.

Some analysts have described the RCEP as a potential buffer against tariffs imposed by the United States, though its provisions are considered weaker than some other regional trade deals due to competing interests among its members.

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