After eight years of effort, the 15 Asian members involved in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) met in a virtual ceremony to sign the final document on Sunday, 15 November 2020. The final deal matches the original objective – to knit the region together and allow firms to build supply chains across the region to deliver goods, services, and investment to Asian markets more seamlessly. Getting this free trade agreement (FTA) to this point involved repeated missed deadlines, the loss of one important negotiating partner, and thousands of miles of travel for a rotating cast of officials, trade ministers, and leaders. RCEP began in late 2012 as an effort to unravel what has often been called the ‘spaghetti or noodle bowl’ of overlapping and inconsistent rules that can impede trade. While most of the countries in the region have extensive experience in trade and are outward oriented, trade in Asia has been bedeviled with challenges. This includes a range of both tariff and non-tariff obstacles that have made it more difficult than might be expected to trade, especially for final products, within the region.

中文翻译：

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让 RCEP 越界

经过八年的努力，参与区域全面经济伙伴关系 (RCEP) 的 15 个亚洲成员于 2020 年 11 月 15 日星期日举行了一场虚拟仪式，签署了最终文件。最终协议符合最初的目标——将地区团结在一起并允许公司在该地区建立供应链，以更加无缝地向亚洲市场提供商品、服务和投资。达成这项自由贸易协定 (FTA) 涉及多次错过最后期限、失去一个重要的谈判伙伴，以及官员、贸易部长和领导人轮流进行数千英里的旅行。RCEP 始于 2012 年底，旨在解开通常被称为“意大利面或面条碗”的重叠和不一致规则，这些规则可能会阻碍贸易。尽管该地区的大多数国家在贸易方面拥有丰富的经验并且是外向型的，但亚洲的贸易一直面临着挑战。这包括一系列关税和非关税障碍，这些障碍使该地区的贸易，特别是最终产品的贸易比预期的更加困难。