This morning I was given the honour to moderate and reply to the first session with a panel of 4 technical trade experts on RCEP. One is the deputy chief of staff from Jokowi’s office, a trade diplomat from the Indonesian government, a senior international law academic and a trade expert from an NGO. I gave a wrap up speech outlining the multi-faceted issues regarding RCEP and free trade and coordinated the open discussion that followed.
I will be flying back to KL straight after the conference ends at lunch. It has been two very interesting days discussing RCEP with my fellow ASEAN MPs. It is strange and sad to note that political problems of corruption and abuse of power is very widespread in so many ASEAN countries.
