The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade agreement by its members' GDP, marked its third anniversary on January 1. The RCEP comprises 15 countries: the 10 ASEAN countries as well as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

For the past three years, it has boosted regional cooperation and economic integration within the Asia-Pacific region, creating enormous market opportunities for its member states and raising the global community's confidence in multilateralism.

"I hope the RCEP will continue to contribute to peace and development in the Asia-Pacific and demonstrate what free and open economies can achieve by working together," said Wenli Cheng, a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at Melbourne's Monash University.

As the largest economy in RCEP, China is committed to comprehensive and high-quality implementation of the agreement. According to the General Administration of Customs of China, in the first three quarters of 2024, China's imports and exports to other RCEP member countries were 9.63 trillion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percent.

The industries of ASEAN countries and China are complementary, and the implementation of RCEP will bring huge market opportunities to enterprises in the region, according to Chaipong Pongpanich, an associate professor at Sasin School of Management, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

Chaipong said the RCEP has led to closer cooperation between ASEAN and China. In Thailand, for example, Thai fruit farmers have benefited as tropical fruits such as durian and mango can now enter the Chinese market more conveniently, thanks to the agreement.

Moreover, Chinese electric vehicle companies have brought advanced technology and promoted local employment, helping Thailand to form a more complete electric vehicle industry chain.

Hidetoshi Tashiro, chief economist at Japan's investment company Infinity, said to maintain the global trade order and build an open and inclusive world economy, the Asia-Pacific economies should work together and achieve prosperity in regional free trade. This would demonstrate the success of open development to the world.

The Asian Development Bank's research shows that by 2030, RCEP will contribute 245 billion USD of economic growth to countries in the region and generate 2.8 million new jobs.

China will continue to promote the upgrade of free trade in the Asia-Pacific for common development and prosperity, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.