New Zealand, Australia Ratify Biggest Free Trade Agreement With ASEAN

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - New Zealand and Australia have ratified the multilateral trade agreement, considered one of the largest in the world, Wellington's Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth Phil Twyford said on Wednesday.

"New Zealand’s ratification yesterday, alongside Australia, triggered the entry into force of what will become the world’s largest free trade agreement and further accelerate our COVID economic recovery," Twyford said in a statement.

The mammoth Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement spans a market of 2.2 billion people with a combined size of US$26.2 trillion or 30% of the world’s GDP, according to the official RCEP website.

The participants are the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their five free trade agreement partners: Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

"Businesses will be able to take advantage of RCEP’s opportunities from early next year," the minister said.

The RCEP takes over half of New Zealand's exports. In particular, the agreement provides a single set of trade and investment rules across the entire RCEP region.

Under negotiation since 2013, RCEP`s aim is the creation of an integrated market, facilitating products and services circulation across the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement is supposed to eliminate tariffs and quotas in over 65% of traded goods and improve market access.