On Monday, China led the first-ever summit of nations negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The meeting followed the 31st Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Manila. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte urged the RCEP leaders Tuesday to provide the political momentum to urgently bring the negotiations to a close. Mr Lukita said he urged RCEP countries with excessively high standards to reduce their expectations and be "more realistic and flexible". "We are so diverse, we have developed countries, developing countries, we have emerging economies, so we have to be realistic."

Source: Bangkok Post November 14, 2017 21:56 UTC