Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia expects to sign theRegional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in mid-November as thecountries concerned finish negotiating trade issues.

The Indonesian government islooking to sign the deal on November 14, said Netty Muharni, deputy assistantfor regional and subregional economic cooperation at the Office of theCoordinating Economic Affairs Minister.

Indonesian officials said the participating countries, including 10 ASEAN member countries, together with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and theRepublic of Korea, had finished negotiating technical issues of the trade deal and carried out the legal scrubbing up ofthe agreement text.

“After that, there will be aratification process that can take up to two years before [the RCEP] comes intoforce, which is possible only if six ASEAN countries and three partners haveratified it,” Netty was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying in a virtual discussion earlier this week.

The participating countries,which collectively account for nearly one-third of the global economy, areexpected to sign the trade deal in November, about eight years after thenegotiations were launched.

For Indonesia, around 95 billionUSD, 61.65 percent, of its total exports last year were channeled to the RCEPcountries, according to Antonius Yudi Triantoro, director of ASEAN negotiationsat the Trade Ministry, quoting data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS).

RCEP countries accounted for 106 billion USD, 71.38 percent, ofIndonesia’s total imports last year. Since 2012, Indonesia has booked tradedeficits with the RCEP countries./.