Ronnarong Phoolpipat, deputy director-general to the Trade Negotiations Department, and chief Thai negotiator for RCEP, said Asean and the six partner countries would wrap up the talks before the next Asean Summit, which will be held in Thailand in October 2017. "It was agreed to postpone the goal to finalise the RCEP talks to next year because of disagreement in the modality of tariff reduction on trade in goods, liberalisation of services, and investment framework. RCEP is also awaiting each member to propose a list of goods under the tariff reduction modality. However, some countries have proposed to cut tariffs on less than 80 per cent. For instance, if Thailand allows a foreign national to hold more than 49-per-cent share in a service business, other RCEP member states would have to be allowed more than 49 per cent stake as well.

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 11, 2016 18:00 UTC