The first round of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP) was launched here Thursday by ASEAN and its six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners.

Officials from 10 ASEAN member states and Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand gathered to start detailed negotiations aimed at concluding the RCEP by the end of 2015.

The talks, which would run from May 9 to 13, will cover issues of trade in goods, services and investment, among others.

Envisaged to enhance market access with due consideration given to its members' stages of economic development, the RCEP targets to attain a comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement that involves deeper engagement than the existing ASEAN FTAs.

"RCEP is a ground-breaking initiative for all 16 participating countries who, together, account for almost half of the world population and 30 percent of global GDP," Michael Mugliston, special negotiator of the department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, said in his opening remarks.

The negotiations for the RCEP were launched by the ASEAN+6 leaders on the sidelines of the 21th ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November last year.

Once realized, the RCEP could potentially lead to the creation of one of the world's largest free trade areas, establishing an integrated market comprising of 3 billion people with a combined GDP of about 17.23 trillion U.S. dollars.

It is viewed by ASEAN as complementing the work that is undertaken through other arrangements currently taking shape in Asia such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The RCEP is also expected to help further entrench ASEAN centrality challenged by the economic cooperation arrangements rapidly evolving in the region, experts say.

The Second Meeting of the RCEP Trade Negotiating Committee is scheduled to take place in Australia in September 2013.