ＲＣＥＰ、１０月にタイで閣僚会合＝年内妥結の道筋見えず

　【ダナン（ベトナム中部）時事】日本、中国、韓国、インドと東南アジア諸国連合（ＡＳＥＡＮ）各国など１６カ国は２７日深夜（日本時間２８日未明）、ベトナム中部ダナンでの東アジア地域包括的経済連携（ＲＣＥＰ）交渉官会合を終えた。最終日は時間を延長して協議を続けたものの、大きな進展には至らなかった。１０月１２日にバンコクで閣僚会合を開き、局面の打開を図るが、目標とする年内妥結へ明確な道筋は依然見えていない。（2019/09/28-05:26）

Japan, China, South Korea and 13 other countries failed to make substantial progress in talks on the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade deal at a meeting of their negotiators that ended Friday.
   The failure made it uncertain whether the 16 countries, also including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, will achieve their goal of hammering out an RCEP agreement at a summit meeting slated for November.
   Still, the negotiators, meeting in the central Vietnamese city of Danang, agreed that the 16 countries will hold a ministerial meeting in Bangkok on Oct. 12 with the aim of achieving a breakthrough in the RCEP negotiations.
   "We'll aim to conclude a high-quality pact by the end of the year," Yasuhiko Yoshida, deputy director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Economic Affairs Bureau, told reporters in Danang.
   At their meeting that started on Sept. 19 and extended to late in the evening on Friday, the negotiators discussed the lowering of tariffs on goods, the liberalization of the services sector, the rules for e-commerce and other issues.