Given current regional and international situation, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member economies should continue to strengthen trust and cooperation, and fully and effectively implement agreements and commitments.

That was the message from Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh in his pre-recorded speech at the High-level Forum entitled “RCEP Spurs Higher-level Opening up” on Saturday.

The forum was held in the framework of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) which began in Shanghai, China on Saturday.

Deputy PM Thanh proposed the RCEP promote areas such as infrastructure connectivity, digital transformation, clean energy, circular economy in association with goals and orientations for sustainable, balanced, inclusive and transparent development.

The Government official suggested that China and major economies give priority and support to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries so that they can make the most of the opportunities brought by RCEP.

Thanh highly appreciated the role of RCEP in the post-pandemic economic recovery, trade liberalisation process and regional and global economic linkages.

The Deputy PM emphasised that as the ASEAN Chair 2020 and the Chair of the RCEP Agreement negotiation, Viet Nam has made great efforts to promote ASEAN's central and leading role to sign the agreement in November 2020.

The China International Import Expo is one of China's top 10 trade fairs, held annually since 2018.This year, Viet Nam is among 10 countries invited to open its national booth online. About 100 enterprises from Viet Nam are taking part in the expo with mainly agricultural and fishery products. — VNS