Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a free trade agreement for the Asia-Pacific countries of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.^[2]

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

RCEP members
Type	Free trade agreement
Signed	15 November 2020
Location	Hanoi, Vietnam (virtual host)
Effective	1 January 2022
Signatories	15  Australia  Brunei  Cambodia  China  Indonesia  Japan  South Korea  Laos  Malaysia  Myanmar  New Zealand  Philippines  Singapore  Thailand  Vietnam
Parties	14  Australia (1 January 2022)  Brunei (1 January 2022)  Cambodia (1 January 2022)  China (1 January 2022)  Indonesia (2 January 2023)  Japan (1 January 2022)  South Korea (1 February 2022)  Laos (1 January 2022)  Malaysia (18 March 2022)  New Zealand (1 January 2022)  Philippines (2 June 2023)  Singapore (1 January 2022)  Thailand (1 January 2022)  Vietnam (1 January 2022)
Depositary	Secretary-General of ASEAN[1]
Language	English (lingua franca)[1]

The 15 member countries make up about 30% of the world's population (2.2 billion people) and 30% of global GDP ($29.7 trillion). It is the largest trade bloc in history.^[3] It was signed in November 2020. RCEP is the first free trade agreement for the largest economies in Asia, including China, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea.^[4]