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Trade and Investment​​​​​​​​​​​​​



The ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership



The Framework for Comprehensive Economic Partnership between ASEAN and Japan was signed by leaders at the ASEAN-Japan Summit on 8 October 2003 in Bali, Indonesia, and was aimed at establishing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement between ASEAN and Japan. 

The Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership among Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AJCEP) and Japan was concluded in November 2007 in Manila, and signing was completed ad-referendum by 14 April 2008. 


The AJCEP is comprehensive in scope, with chapters on Trade in Goods; Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures; Investment; Services; and Economic Cooperation. The agreement aims at liberalising and facilitating trade in goods between ASEAN and Japan and promoting cooperation in fields such as Information and Communications Technology, Intellectual Property, and SMEs. The parties will also continue to discuss and negotiate improvements to the chapters on Trade in Services and Investment. 

Brunei submitted its notification on the completion of domestic procedures for the AJCEP on 29 November 2008, and the agreement entered into force, for Brunei, on 1 January 2009. 

In 2013, ASEAN and Japan commenced negotiations to review the Trade in Services and Investment Chapters under AJCEP, including for the respective market access commitments. This is still on-going. Once concluded, the benefits of the AJCEP Agreement will be expanded for companies and service suppliers across ASEAN and Japan.


The AJCEP entered into force for the other parties on:

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