Hanoi (VNA) - The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), signedby 15 Asia-Pacific countries on November 15, would bring economic benefits tothese countries and help strengthen regional integration, experts have said.

"The RCEP will connect about 30 percent of the world's people and outputand, in the right political context, will generate significant gains,"said a report jointly issued on November 16 by Peter A. Petri, a nonresidentsenior fellow of the Brookings Institution and Michael Plummer, a professor ofinternational economics at Johns Hopkins University.

The RCEP could add 209 billion USD annually to world incomes, and 500 billiondollars to world trade by 2030, according to computer simulations published byPetri and Plummer.

The report estimated that the RCEP, together with the Comprehensive andProgressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) signed in 2018,will make the economies of North and Southeast Asia more efficient by linkingtheir strengths.

North Asia's economies may benefit most, with other nations already covered bya patchwork of existing free trade agreements, said Mark Haefele, chiefinvestment officer of UBS Global Wealth Management, on November 16.

Raj Bhala, a distinguished professor at the University of Kansas Law School,told Xinhua that the RCEP partners now have the opportunity to "write andrevise international trade rules on 21st century issues," including IP protection,technical standards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and servicesliberalisation.

Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor at Columbia University and a seniorUnited Nations advisor, told Xinhua via email on November 16 that as the nextstep, the RCEP should strengthen cooperation on restoring tourism and trade,investing in renewable energy, and achieving sustainable development./.