The members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) should unite together to restore and safeguard free trade and multilateral order, especially when the global economy has been hit hard by COVID-19. That is according to Jeon Byeong-seo, Director of the Institute of Chinese Economic and Financial Research of South Korea. He also hails the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade agreement. The RCEP was signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries on Nov. 15 after eight years of negotiation. It covers a market of 2.2 billion people, or almost 30 percent of the world's population, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 26.2 trillion U.S. dollars or about 30 percent of global GDP.
