It also seeks to enhance regional connectivity by reducing behind-the-border non-tariff trade barriers and promoting consistency in regulation across all the member countries. Singapore views the TPP, along with the RCEP, as complementary tracks that will lead towards increased regional integration, and eventually, to a Free Trade Agreement of the Asia Pacific. The recent decision by Japan to join the TPP will further reinforce the TPP as a platform for broader economic integration across the Pacific. With Japan’s inclusion, the TPP’s membership has now expanded to 12 countries. This represents nearly 40 per cent of the global economy and one-third of world trade. As you all know, joining the TPP is a key element of the three-arrow strategy embodied in Abenomics. The prognosis for Japan has improved considerably compared to six months ago. After stagnating for much of last year, the Japanese economy rebounded strongly in the first quarter of this year, with GDP growth of 3.5 per cent on a pick-up in consumer spending. Growth forecast for the whole of this year has been progressively raised, with room for further upward revision. Sentiments have improved strongly since the announcements of aggressive monetary and fiscal policy measures to revive the Japanese economy. The sharp depreciation of the Yen has also helped to boost expectations for GDP growth and corporate profits. One example of this is Toyota Motor. It has reported consolidated operating profit of 1.3 trillion yen for the 2012 business year, about 3.7 times that of the previous year.

The CLMV countries have reduced tariffs on 98.86% of their tariff lines to the 0–5% tariff range in 2010, and are expected to eliminate tariffs on these goods by 2015, with flexibility for a few tariff lines until 2018. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  •  On services, ASEAN Member States have recently completed the eighth package of commitments under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services. What this means is that we can expect the reduction of services barriers, such as foreign equity limits in the ASEAN countries. •  On investment, the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement entered into force in March last year. This agreement has established stronger, pro-business rules, with enhanced investment protection for both ASEAN-owned investments and also foreign-owned investments based in ASEAN2. Singapore’s multilateral agreements However, to enable businesses to access major markets more easily, Singapore has also broadened our engagement with Asia Pacific beyond ASEAN. By doing so, we aim to reduce trading costs. To this end, Singapore actively participates in negotiations of several multilateral trade agreements. One example of such a multilateral trade agreement is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, which is a partnership between ASEAN and six other countries, namely Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, India and South Korea. Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Renminbi (RMB) Internationalisation This agreement builds upon the existing ASEAN+1 free trade agreements (FTAs) FTAs by bringing together ASEAN’s existing FTAs with its key partners into a single comprehensive agreement.