S. Korea to attend RCEP talks in Indonesia this week

South Korea will take part in a joint committee meeting of a regional mega trade pact to be held in Indonesia this week, the industry ministry said Tuesday.

The fourth joint committee meeting of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will take place in Surabaya, Indonesia, from Tuesday through Wednesday, and some 80 officials from 15 member nations plan to discuss the establishment of its secretariat and the overall management, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

During this week's meeting, the officials will also have talks on the potential accession of Sri Lanka to the trade pact, and check the implementation of their agreed-upon rules on trade, investment, business chances and supply chain cooperation, the ministry said.

The members are the 10 member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. South Korea signed the deal with the partners in 2020, and it took effect for South Korea in February 2022.

"Based on discussions this time, member nations seek to adopt an agreement on key issues during the upcoming ministerial RCEP meeting to be held in Indonesia next month," the ministry said in a release.

RCEP is one of the world's biggest free trade agreements as the member nations account for around 30 percent of global gross domestic product, population and trade volume, government data showed. (Yonhap)