
 
 

Ministers of 11 countries agreed on the core elements of the CPTPP at their conference
in Danang, Vietnam, November 11, 2017. (Photo: People’s Army Newspaper)
| Trade ministers of other countries negotiating the trade pact,
  namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Peru,
  Singapore and Vietnam, will attend the event. CPTPP was launched a year ago after the US withdrew from the
  Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. It sets high criteria in numerous
  fields, including labour, the environment, intellectual property, digital
  economy and cyber security. Twenty-two provisions of the CPTPP, including sensitive ones
  related to intellectual property, were suspended or changed in comparison to
  the TPP.  The pact is expected to facilitate for the promotion of economic
  growth and job generation, poverty reduction, and improvement of people’s
  living conditions. It will be a strong message against protectionism, while proving
  that an opening economy will benefit member nations, according to
  experts.  The pact, once signed, will create one of the world’s largest
  free trade blocs with a combined market of 463 million people and GDP of
  around 10,000 billion USD, accounting for 13 percent of the global GDP.  It will bring about important commitments involved in non-tariff
  barriers, services, investment and other fields.  The pact will come into force 60 days after it is fully ratified
  by six of the 11 members.  According to New Zealand Trade Minister David Parker, the deal
  would give Kiwi businesses preferential access to Japan - the third biggest
  economy in the world - Canada, Mexico and Peru for the first time. The deal had also "increased in importance because of
  growing threats to the effective operation of the World Trade
  Organisation", he said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of NZ estimates, the
  deal is expected to give a $1.2 billion to $4b boost to New Zealand's real
  gross domestic product. This included almost $86 million in expected tariff savings for
  the dairy industry, while the country's exporters would save about $200m in
  reduced tariffs to Japan alone.
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                                             Source: NDO