On November 11, 15 countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), including China, Japan, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), met in an online ministerial meeting and reached an agreement. The agreement will be signed at the summit on November 15, according to the Nikkei Keizai Shimbun. India, which had initially participated in the talks, was absent. The Malaysian government issued a statement after the ministerial meeting, stating that "Member states have reached a negotiation agreement, which is scheduled to be signed on the 15th." After the RCEP comes into force, it will be Asia's largest free trade agreement covering 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and trade. For Japan, this is the first free trade agreement with its major trading partners China and South Korea. After the RCEP comes into force, it will not allow new member states to join for a certain period of time, but India will be treated in a special way and such provisions will be not applicable to India. Should India decide to rejoin, it will draw up a document that would allow joining at any time outside of the Agreement. Tariffs on agricultural, forestry and fishery products would be kept at a lower level than the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Economic Co-operation Agreement between Japan and the European Union. In addition to agricultural, forestry and fishery products, the removal and reduction of tariffs on industrial products will be considered, as well as the development of common rules for intra-regional transactions in some 20 areas, such as rules on data flow environment.