What they say

Zheng Haoran, program lead of adolescents and youth at the United Nations Population Fund China

The United Nations believes that youth not only benefit from sustainable development but can also assist in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and drive future reforms in the sector. Therefore, the UN includes the voices of youth and cooperates closely with them in the execution, planning and evaluation of SDGs. At the national level, more policies targeted at youth need to be developed and implemented. More efforts are required to support governments as they integrate SDGs into their national and local strategies.

Kong Tuan Yuen, research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore

The 15 member states of the RCEP are diverse in culture, economic development and other conditions, so young people need to make good use of the strengths of their own countries and cooperate with others to achieve the best outcomes. Youth should also innovate and be able to coordinate with past and future generations as the RCEP is an evolving agreement.

Chhort Chhorravuth, director and project manager of Cambodia's Angkor Social Innovation Park

Entrepreneurs should thoroughly consider the significant gains of RCEP-related business expansion because the RCEP offers exciting opportunities for Cambodia to reach a new level of business development and market. Around 90 percent of businesses in Cambodia are small and medium-sized enterprises and 66 percent of the 520,000 SMEs in the country have difficulties accessing investment and capital.

Kim Jun-bum, president of Korean Peninsula Technology Co Ltd

The RCEP is attracting great attention in that it is the world's largest free trade agreement. The 15 member countries of the RCEP will be grouped into one economic community to secure new growth engines by strengthening supply chain cooperation, promoting investment and expanding intra-regional trade ... Economic cooperation between South Korea, China and Japan is expected to increase rapidly with the RCEP agreement in force.

Zhu Yaping, deputy secretary-general of the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance

The youth are the principal part of blue economy development as well as the new force to protect the marine ecosystems and environment. They will play a significant role in developing new models for the development and utilization of marine resources as well as promoting trade in seafood.

Rintaro Tanaka, director of the Japan External Trade Organization Guangzhou Office

The RCEP will have a significant positive impact on trade between China and Japan. Under the RCEP, the percentage of tariff-free industrial goods exported from Japan to China will increase from 8 percent to 86 percent ... The RCEP has strengthened the rules on investment and intellectual property protection while new regulations related to e-commerce and data have been added. It is one of our tasks to promote enterprises, especially the small and medium-sized ones, to utilize the preferential policies under the RCEP agreement.