Technical preparations for RCEP agreement well underway: MOFCOM

File Photo/Xinhua

China is fully prepared to fulfill its obligations when the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement enters into force, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

China has taken the lead in ratifying the agreement and technical preparations for implementing the RCEP agreement are progressing in an orderly manner, the ministry said.

The ministry, in conjunction with relevant government organs, has sorted out the 701 binding obligations stipulated in the agreement, including tariff concessions, simplification of customs procedures, service trade liberalization and commitment to "one list for the whole country."

China's Ministry of Finance has wrapped up the conversion for the tariff concession commitment on trade in goods. The General Administration of Customs has set out to draft the rules of origin and conclude the technical preparations at home within six months while negotiating with foreign parties.

In order to adapt to the new circumstances after the trade pact takes effect, China's relevant departments are poised to refine the country's manufacturing quality standards and rules in line with the advanced international industrial standards and brace itself for raising the bar and adjusting rules, so as to further open up the services industry.

Thailand also officially ratified the agreement. The group's 15 members all stated that they will ratify the RCEP deal before the end of this year and bring the trade pact into effect on January 1, 2022.

RCEP is a supersized free trade zone leading the world in a wide assortment of indicators, whose 15 member states boast 2.27 billion people, economic outputs of $26 trillion and total exports of $5.2 trillion.