KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will be the 12th country to complete the ratification process of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement this year.
Senior International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said the government would be submitting the instrument of ratification (IOR) to the ASEAN secretariat in Indonesia.
"The government have given the mandate to Miti inform the Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah and he has given the assurance that the OIR will be submitted soon.
"We expect the ratification process to come into force within the 60 days based on the provisions of the agreement. Malaysia will be the 12th country to ratify the RCEP, as promised back in March," he said when met after receiving donations from II-VI Malaysia Advanced Manufacturing Center Sdn Bhd at Menara Miti here, today.
Azmin said the process to ratify RCEP required Parliament approval for amendments made to three Acts under the purview of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, mainly relating to intellectual property rights such as the Patents Act, Copyright Act and Trademarks Act in Dec last year.
"I have emphasised before that Malaysia was committed to ratify (the agreement) by end of 2021, but in order to complete the ratification process we would need to amend the three acts under the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry.
"The three acts were tabled in Parliament last Dec 15 by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and the amendments were approved by the Lower House; they were taken to Dewan Negara and the acts were approved as well.
"Now that the process has been completed, the next action is to submit the IOR. I will submit the memorandum to the Cabinet on Wednesday," he said.
On Nov 15, 2020, Malaysia has signed the RCEP Agreement with 14 other RCEP Participating Countries (RPCs).
Azmin said the signing showed that ASEAN, with its five Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners, placed utmost priority on regional economic integration that facilitates cross-border trade, investments and the easing of non-tariff measures.
RCEP is the world's largest free trade agreement (FTA) with a market that covers almost one-third of the world's population or 2.2 billion people.