RCEP world heritage assembly opens in China's Huangshan

The 2025 General Assembly of the RCEP Member States World Heritage Cooperation Alliance opened Friday in Huangshan City, east China's Anhui Province, with the aim of facilitating the efficient flow of technology, capital, and talents among member states' heritage sites.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership World Heritage Cities Alliance (RCEP-WHCA) was jointly launched by heritage site representatives from six RCEP member countries, namely China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam, in Huangshan in June 2025.

A total of 180 representatives from heritage management institutions, research and monitoring bodies, cultural and tourism service agencies, and international organizations across the 15 RCEP member countries participated in the assembly.

Home to 178 World Heritage sites, RCEP member countries possess global cultural and natural treasures that serve as vital platforms for regional civilizational exchanges and economic empowerment.

The event aims to advance the Huangshan Initiative launched this June and to establish a cross-sector, interdisciplinary platform for international cooperation in the protection, inheritance and promotion of World Heritage sites.

The conference also seeks to raise the global profile of RCEP heritage sites and expand opportunities for cultural and tourism development.

The participants discussed the sustainable and high-quality development of cultural tourism at World Heritage sites, focusing on new approaches, technologies, and models for cultural-tourism integration.

Peter Semone, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), emphasized that RCEP-WHCA provides a vital platform bridging borders, disciplines, and sectors to exchange knowledge, build capacity, and develop innovative models for conservation and sustainable tourism.

The 15 RCEP member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

RCEP world heritage assembly opens in China's Hungshan

The European Commission's autumn 2025 economic forecast shows that driven by a surge in exports in anticipation of U.S. tariff increases, the European Union's (EU) economy maintained growth in the third quarter of this year, and it is expected to continue expanding at a moderate pace over the forecast horizon.

In the report released on Monday, the Commission said the gross domestic product (GDP) of the EU is expected to grow 1.4 percent in 2025, with the eurozone expanding 1.3 percent. Growth in 2026 is forecast at 1.4 percent for the EU and 1.2 percent for the eurozone, both slightly lower than projections made in May.

Eurozone headline inflation is projected to ease to 2.1 percent this year from 2.4 percent in 2024. Inflation across the EU is seen declining from 2.6 percent in 2024 to 2.2 percent in 2027, remaining slightly above the eurozone rate.

Due to the increase in defence spending, the EU's fiscal deficit is expected to rise to 3.4 percent of GDP in 2027 from 3.1 percent in 2024. The EU debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to rise from 84.5 percent in 2024 to 85 percent in 2027, with the eurozone ratio set to rise from around 88 percent to 90.4 percent.

The forecast noted that globally, trade barriers have reached historic highs, and the EU now faces higher average tariffs on exports to the U.S. compared with the spring forecast. Persistent trade policy uncertainty continues to weigh on economic activity, with tariffs and non-tariff restrictions potentially constraining EU growth more than expected. Any escalation in geopolitical tensions could intensify supply shocks, it noted.

EU expects economy to expand moderately