Within the overall institutional framework of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), one important business-sector working mechanism came into being—jointly brought to life by the business communities of all member states: the RCEP Business Advisory Council. From the outset, its founding intent was to carve out a standing dialogue channel between member-state governments and the enterprises on the ground, so that industry's voice could travel straight to the decision-making table.
On May 26, this mechanism held its 11th plenary gathering, hosted in Tokyo, Japan. In attendance were Shi Ming, Deputy Representative of the Secretariat to Japan, and Kong Feihan, Assistant Representative.
In day-to-day operations, the Council's work runs along three interlocking, mutually reinforcing tracks. The first sits on the "policy supply" side: sustained research and clause-level interpretation of the rules, delivering authoritative, targeted information and advisory services to enterprises on RCEP's regulatory system, market-access thresholds, and prevailing trade practices—so that market players can truly read the agreement and calculate its payoff. The second sits on the "industry matchmaking" side: using forums, thematic seminars, and business-to-business sessions as venues, it pushes member-state enterprises toward deeper mutual recognition and hands-on collaboration, pulling the regional industrial and supply chains toward higher-level, deeper-coupled evolution. The third sits on the "outcome feedback" side: keeping a watching brief on how well RCEP lands on the ground, conducting phased assessments, systematically pooling the bottlenecks, pain points, and regulatory-improvement suggestions enterprises encounter in practice, and channeling them back through formal channels to member-state governments—thereby feeding frontline, real-world evidence into policy iteration and decision-making.
Along this closed loop, the liberalization and facilitation of regional trade and investment keep climbing, and enterprises' confidence in seizing the agreement's windows and expanding regional markets keeps thickening—ultimately pointing toward the long-horizon picture of a regional economy that advances in concert and prospers together.