UK Entry to CPTPP Trade Pact Still Under Discussion: Singapore

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(Bloomberg) — Discussions for the UK’s accession into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) are continuing, Singapore’s trade minister Gan Kim Yong said during a meeting of the trade group.

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The UK is the first economy outside the original 11 signatories to seek admission and several other economies have expressed an interest to join, Gan said on Saturday at a press conference during the sixth meeting of the group’s commission in Singapore.

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There’s no fixed timeline for completion of the process to admit the UK, Daishiro Yamagiwa, Japan’s Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, said at the conference. 

The commission is discussing new areas of cooperation in digital and green initiatives, said Gan. The latter may include initiatives on carbon credit, development and trading. Malaysia will become the ninth country to ratify the trade pact on Nov. 29, he added.

The CPTPP is a free trade agreement signed by 11 countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — that evolved after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership shortly after it was created in 2016.